Macau Casino Revenue Down 34.5% To $2.3bn In July

The Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau has just released its latest monthly revenues, and once again the news was not good with the casino market suffering a further double-digit contraction to extend the resort’s losing streak to 14 consecutive months. Overall, Macau’s six casino operators saw their revenues fall 34.5% to $2.3 billion in July, as Chinese VIP gamblers continued to stay away from the country’s only legal gambling hub.
Macau’s monthly revenue results are currently lingering near five-year lows, and for the first seven months of 2015 are down by 37% compared to the same period last year. Furthermore, the resort’s six casino operators, Sands China, Wynn Macau, Galaxy Entertainment, SJM Holdings, Melco Entertainment and MGM China, have all seen their share prices fall between 10% and 28% since the start of this year, and commenting on the situation, gaming analyst Cameron McKnight from Wells Fargo Securities, said:
“We remain neutral on Macau gaming and continue to believe there will be no V-shaped recovery as the liquidity-induced ‘Macau Bubble’ of the past five years continues to deflate.”
In addition to scrutiny directed at Macau’s VIP gamblers as a result of the Chinese government’s anti-corruption campaign, a crackdown which could last another two years, Chinese economic activity continues to remain weak, with the government admitting this week that it “lacks a new engine for growth.”
On an optimistic note, analysts are predicting a slight increase in revenues for the second half of 2015 following the opening of Melco’s Studio City (photo), a $3.2 billion Hollywood style, integrated resort complete with two ‘Heroes of Steel’ 30 meters high statues, and the Golden Reel Ferris wheel, which will be the highest in all of Asia.