Macau’s casino revenue to hit double-digit growth in December

Japanese brokerage firm Nomura said earlier this week the city’s casino gross gaming revenue is likely to increase by 12 percent to 15 percent in December, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Nomura says it has seen “no signs of VIP stress” while “junkets may have been looser with credit” as business sentiment and GDP growth in the mainland show some improvement.
U.S.-based brokerage firm Sterne Agee says that, according to its checks, Macau table-only gross gaming revenue stood at us$ 1.2 billion through to December 10.

The result led the company to raise its full-December estimates to a growth rate of 16 percent or us$ 3.37 billion, from a former 11-percent growth estimate, analyst David Bain wrote yesterday in an investors note. If the forecast is correct, December will be Macau’s second best month ever, only behind October’s us$ 3.40 billion.

Bain wrote “visa loosening, an improving macro picture, and stronger renminbi is helping to boost near-term results. The overall conclusion of the political handover in the mainland is also helpful for VIP play, in our view.”

Meanwhile, Citigroup cited its Macau gaming sources indicating that the VIP/mass market gross gaming revenue split in November was 67:33, compared to 69:31 in October.

Mass revenue in November grew by 33 percent year-on-year, while VIP revenue dropped by 2 percent, Citi said.