Macao Casino Resurrection Continues in June Despite Xi Jinping's Visit
In Macau, total game sales reportedly rose for the 11th consecutive month in June as more than 30 casinos increased 25.9% year-on-year to just over $2.49 billion in revenue.
Official figures from the regulator of the gaming inspection and coordination bureau at the former Portuguese residence showed the biggest year-on-year increase, even though the tally was down 12.1% month-on-month.
Macau casinos saw total gaming revenue improve 1.1% in August to $2.35 billion, down 26 months from a year earlier, while September's $2.29 billion increased 7.4%. The trend continued up 8.8% to $2.34 billion in November, before rising 14.4% to $2.72 billion. Even better, December's figure rose 8% to nearly $2.5 billion, and consolidated revenue rose 3.1% to nearly $2.41 billion, before improving 17.8% to $2.87 billion in February.
Macau casinos' recent total gaming revenue slightly exceeded $2.65 billion in March, up 18.1% year-over-year, rising 16.3% to $2.52 billion in April and 23.7% to $2.83 billion last month.
Several investment analysts, however, forecast total gaming revenue to rise more than 30% year-over-year in June, and brokerage Union Gaming Securities Asia Limited declared in a note Saturday that its monthly tally missed "upbeat agreement for a late June slowdown."
Union Gaming Securities Asia Limited's advice, written by analyst Grant Gerberson, said: "We are primarily due to the ongoing visit to Hong Kong by President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China." "We note that Hong Kong has been under virtual lockdown for the past few days and this is likely to have had the effect of reducing high-end visits to Macau during this time."
As a result, Macau's total gaming revenue for the first six months was just over $15.71 billion, up 17.2% year-over-year. According to reports, VIP growth of 24% "outpaced mass market growth by 4 percentage points during the second quarter."
"As has historically been the case, total gaming revenue of approximately $7.87 billion was slightly below total gaming revenue of approximately $7.94 billion in the first quarter of 2017," said Carlo Santarelli and Danny Baloy, analysts at Deutsche Bank Securities, in a Saturday note. "However, continuous declines of around 1% are significantly better than continuous quarterly declines of around 10% on average over the past three years."