Gambling hotspot Macau saw its first annual decline in casino revenues last year, figures showed yesterday, with a corruption crackdown by the Chinese government ending a decade of booming growth for the industry.
Official figures showed that gaming revenues fell 2.6 percent year-on-year to 351.52 billion Macau patacas (US$44 billion) last year — the only decline since annual figures were first released in 2002.
Last month’s takings were especially dire, plunging a record 30.5 percent year-on-year to 23.285 billion patacas — marking a seventh consecutive month of decline and the biggest drop since the gambling hub began recording monthly revenues in 2005.
Photo: Bloomberg
Barclays analyst Phoebe Tse said a high-profile corruption crackdown spearheaded by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) was one of the main factors that had pushed down the territory’s casino earnings last year.
“It has had a negative impact on the VIP playing sentiment significantly,” she told reporters.
Macau is the only part of China where casino gambling is legal, and the industry is dependent on big spenders from the mainland.
However, high-rollers have been reined in by the anti-graft drive, which has seen Xi vow to crack down on high-ranking officials — described as “tigers” — along with low-level “flies,” in a campaign which includes curbing lavish spending.
The clampdown has wiped out about US$73 billion in market value of companies including Wynn Macau Ltd and SJM Holdings Ltd in the past year, Bloomberg reported.
A slowdown in the Chinese economy has also been taking its toll on casino earnings.
Experts had predicted that growth in the VIP segment, accounting for two-thirds of the Macau gaming industry’s total revenue, would be limited by the continued focus on corruption.
Beijing is also reported to be clamping down on illicit funds channeled from the mainland through its casinos.
Revenues hit a yearly record in 2013 at US$45 billion, official figures showed.
Xi, on a visit to Macau last month, said the territory should diversify away from casinos.
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