Casino revenue in Macau rose for a sixth consecutive month in January, figures provided by the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau showed. The amount of MOP19.3 billion ($2.4 billion) was generated by local casinos last month, reflecting an increase of 3.1% from January 2016.
Although the gambling hub posted improved results from the previous year, these failed to meet various analysts’ forecasts of a rise of between 7% and 10%. The smaller-than-expected growth was attributed to a slower start of the Chinese New Year celebrations. The year of the Rooster was initiated on January 28, putting the beginning of week-long festivities.
As mentioned above, gaming revenue in Macau has been on the rise for six months now. Last August, the administrative region, known to be the world’s most profitable gambling destination, posted its first casino revenue increase in more than two years.
Macau suffered severely from a crackdown on corruption in Mainland China and an overall economic slowdown. As a result, the city saw its most precious gambling group – Chinese high rollers – withdraw from its casinos.
In order to revive activity across resorts, the Macau government ordered that these provide visitors with more family-friendly and mass market-oriented offering. What is more, two new resorts opened doors in the city in August and September, both of which providing a friendly environment for family vacations as well as for mass market gambling customers. Results from the past six months show that the change of direction and focus may have proved to be helpful.
Aside from Wynn Palace and the Parisian Macao, another such resort – MGM Cotai – is set to open doors in the administrative region sometime in 2017. The property was first slated to have its ribbon cut later in February, but developer MGM Resorts International confirmed last month that opening would be delayed.
Despite the monthly revenue increases posted by Macau in the last months of 2016, the gambling hub could not generate a positive full-year revenue growth. The amount of MOP223.2 billion ($27.9 billion) was reported for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016, down 3.3% year-on-year. That was the third consecutive full-year drop posted by Macau. The city has never had such a long bad streak since its casino industry was re-regulated back in the early 2000s. It is believed that if the upward trend is maintained, a modest to moderate positive growth will be generated in 2017.
