Macau Revenue Rises by 10.3% in July

The world’s largest casino hub and area, Macau, keeps showcasing resurgent tendencies and a soaring increase in revenue after a short period of crisis…

As we’ve reported last month, 2018’s second quarter was a success for most operators in Macau, the region that brings in tens of billions of dollars in revenue each year. Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau has revealed that gross gaming revenue increased by 17.2% to over $9 billion.

Failure is Not an Option

This trend of being on the rise continued in July, as casino gross gaming revenue rose by 10.3% year-on-year, to $3.13 billion…

…This was revealed by Gaming Inspection this past Wednesday.

Grant Govertsen, analyst of Union Gaming Securities Asia Ltd, commented: “We view this result favorably as the month faced three headwinds. The calendar was unfavorable with one fewer Sunday; July had the toughest comp of the year… and while we believe it was a small impact, the more interesting second half of the World Cup played out during the first two weeks of July.”

By this, Govertsen means that the FIFA World Cup in Russia had an uneven effect on Macau, with the latter half of the tournament, played in July, having a more positive impact.

Clear Skies Ahead

August should have an even bigger growth rate, according to analysts Vitaly Umansky, Zhen Gong and Kelsey Zhu – it is expected that the year-on-year growth during the eighth month will be between 15% and 17%…

…as last year’s August was impacted negatively by the Typhoon Hato – the strongest one to hit Macau in 53 years, causing several gaming venues to suspend their operations for days due to the damage inflicted.

“The weather comp is very easy in that August of last year saw the catastrophic Typhoon Hato, which was followed one week later by Typhoon Pakhar. These two weather events took a big bite out of GGR last year,” says Govertsen.

Recently announced Macau Estadium, an exclusive eSports venue, should further help Macau gain an even greater financial boost over the coming years.

Source:

“Macau casino GGR up 10pct in July: govt”, ggrasia.com, August 1, 2018.