CR149-p01-Front_Coinslot NEW 06/03/2015 10:50 Page 1
MARCH 2015 • EDITION 149
TWITTER/@ICASINOREVIEW • WWW.CASINOREVIEW-ONLINE.COM
ICE
2015 Show Report THE WHO, WHAT AND HOW AT THIS YEAR’S ICE TOTALLY GAMING 26
nRACE HOTS UP FOR SOUTH KOREAN PRIZE World News 2
Is the door opening for casino resorts in Mexico? South & Central America News 18
THE BUSINESS NEWSPAPER FOR THE GLOBAL CASINO INDUSTRY
PERFORMANCE
WORLD IN MOTION: CHINESE NEW YEAR
Gross gaming revenue (GGR) in Macau during the Chinese New Year holiday period has been disappointing, reports indicate. So what does this mean for the world’s gambling capital?
he Spring Festival travel season - or Chunyun - is a period of travel in China with extremely high traffic load around the time of the Chinese New Year. One of the largest annual human migrations in the world, the transport infrastructure around China is put under great strain during the period, with rail transport experiencing the biggest challenge. The Lunar New Year holiday, a week-long break for mainland Chinese, is typically a high season for Macau. The weak gambling numbers in the SAR are especially disappointing because actual tourist arrivals to Macau from China rose seven per cent over the holiday, according to Barclays.
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Chinese New Year fails to boost Macau GGR
D MACAU
espite reporting an increase in visitors across the Chinese New Year period, gaming revenues in Macau continue to suffer. As International Casino Review went to press, analysts were expecting monthly gross gaming revenue (GGR) to fall below MOP20bn (E2.17bn) in February for the first time in four years. China’s Lunar New Year, which started on February 19, is traditionally a period for Chinese to travel - and the peak gambling season in the former Portuguese colony. According to data from
the city’s Public Security Police, total arrivals to Macau, excluding Macau residents, during the first five days of Chinese New Year were up three per cent yearon-year to almost 781,000. However, Japanese brokerage firm Nomura confirmed a drop in Macau’s daily GGR for the period of February 16-23. Barclays estimated that average daily table revenues in Macau were HK$510.5m (E58.2m) for the week to February 23 a period including five days in the holiday period - compared with HK$541m (E61.7m) the week before.
“According to our channel checks, February Macau table-only GGR is MOP13.3bn (E1.44bn) through February 23,” said Sterne Agee analyst David Bain. “Including slot assumptions, the February GGR run rate indicates a minus 56 per cent year-over-year monthly result, or MOP17.2bn (1.86bn).” Shares in Wynn Macau and Melco Crown Entertainment sank almost six per cent in the wake of the reports, while Sands China fell by 5.6 per cent and Galaxy Entertainment Group by 4.9 per cent.
More than a transaction. A connection.
“We are disappointed by the weak results since the data include the results from the first five days of Chinese New Year, which is typically the busiest period of the holiday,” a trio of Nomura analysts led by Harry Curtis said. Last year, casino revenues in Macau posted their first full-year decline since records began in 2002. According to official figures the Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau (DICJ), gaming revenues in 2014 fell 2.6 per cent to MOP351bn (E34.1bn), ending an 11-year run of increases.
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According to Credit Suisse AG, GGR in Macau is “sequentially weakening with no sign of bottoming yet”, with the first quarter of 2015 trending for a 16-per cent quarter-on-quarter decline. Some analysts were hoping that the Chinese New Year would finally bring relief to Macau’s gaming industry. However, for many the decline was much expected given the tough year-over-year comparison and the recent increase in transit visa restrictions and greater scrutiny regarding junkets.