Macau Casinos Up 12% To $2.92 Billion In June
July 3, 2012 2:25 pmMacau has released its financial figures for June revealing a 12.2% rise in casino revenue to 23.3 billion patacas ($2.92 billion) compared to the same period in 2011.
Despite higher than the 7.3% increase experienced in revenue for May, the June result was below the 15% increase anticipated for the month leading to analysts revising downwards their full-year predictions. Amongst the reasons cited for the lower than expected growth was a typhoon which struck the enclave on June 29th. As Grant Govertsen from Union Gaming Research Macau explains:
“But for the typhoon, we believe June results would have been in line with expectations. We believe the first two days of July have rebounded nicely from the last two days of June in terms of visitation and gaming volumes.”
However, other analysts have cited a whole list of factors believed to have affected June’s revenue figures, including a weakening Chinese economy and credit woes curbing the spending habits of Macau’s billionaire VIP gamblers. The European football tournament, as well as an incidence of violence in which Greek Mythology Casino owner Mr. Ng Man Sun was brutally beaten in his own casino by a gang may have also added to muted spending in the Chinese gambling enclave.
Consequently, shares in all three Las Vegas-based gaming companies saw their prices fall at the start of this week, with Wynn Resorts down 1.51% to $102.15, Las Vegas Sands down 1.2% to $42.97 and MGM down 0.99% to $11.05.
Macau’s gambling revenue growth has been explosive since the end of 2009, when it was up 10% on the year before to $15 billion. In 2010, its revenue grew by a massive 58% to $23 billion and in 2011 by 42% to $34 billion. Analysts have now revised their forecast to around 15% growth for 2012.