Macau May Gambling Revenue Up 7% On Year To MOP26.08 Billion
01 June 2012 - 6:40PM
Dow Jones News
Gambling revenue in Macau, the only place in China where casino
gambling is legal, rose 7% in May from the same month a year
earlier, government data showed Friday.
The haul was the second-highest in history, but the rate of
growth was the weakest in years due to a variety of statistical
factors and stress from a weak Chinese economy, analysts said.
Gambling revenue rose to MOP26.08 billion (US$3.26 billion) last
month, higher than MOP24.31 billion in May the year prior, showed
data from Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. In the
first five months of 2012, it rose 21% from the same period a year
earlier to MOP125.4 billion.
Gambling revenue growth has shot up since the end of 2009, but
analysts expect the pace to slow in 2012 due to a high base of
comparison last year and concern about the sustainability of
aggressive growth in VIP play amid liquidity worries in China. The
most bearish 2012 gambling revenue growth estimates for the
territory hover around 11% compared with growth of 42% in 2011.
May's 7% rise--a sharp slowdown from April's 22%--was also
negatively affected by a shorter holiday season this year and
casinos' unusual degree of bad luck compared with an unusual degree
of good luck in May last year, analysts said.
Sharp year-on-year increases in gambling revenue will also be
less likely from May following the May 2011 opening of Galaxy
Entertainment Group Ltd.'s (0027.HK) massive new casino resort,
analysts said.
Macau is the world's largest gambling center. Last year it
earned more than five times the gambling revenue of the U.S.'s Las
Vegas Strip.
-By Kate O'Keeffe, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2802-7002;
kathryn.okeeffe@dowjones.com