Macau: Analysts see March gaming revenue rising 13-18 percent

Wells Fargo also says gaming revenue growth this month could be up to 18 percent higher than a year ago, and Nomura has issued similar forecasts.

Besides, Galaxy Entertainment Group and Melco Crown Entertainment are best placed to benefit from the next phase of Macau’s development, Wells Fargo says. Reuters quotes research by the United States stockbroker as saying Cotai’s expansion could more than double Macau’s annual gaming revenue to us$ 115 billion in four years.

Galaxy Entertainment and Melco Crown will be the first to open new casino-resorts in 2015, giving them a first-mover advantage in the contest for more gaming tables and the best workers, Wells Fargo says. 

Telsey Advisory Group says work in Cotai is proceeding apace. It expects Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts International to open their new resorts early in 2016, and Las Vegas Sands to open its Parisian development late in 2015.

US billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands was the strip’s pioneer, setting up the Venetian casino there in 2007. Adelson’s Hong Kong-listed Sands China Ltd is set to open its final casino planned for Macau at the end of 2015 in Cotai, but for Melco and Galaxy, their growth in the area is just beginning.

That puts them ahead of peers like MGM China and Wynn Macau in the race for dealers and gaming tables, which are both in short supply. MGM and Wynn are also planning to open casinos in Cotai, but at a later date.

Galaxy, owned by Hong Kong construction tycoon Lui Che Woo, has the largest plot of land on Cotai and will still have half the area left to build on after its new resort opens next year. Sands, in contrast, will use up the last of its Macau land for its Parisian complex, slated to open at the end of 2015.

“Sands has had a great run here with the last property to open,” said Philip Tulk, who tracks gaming companies at Standard Chartered in Hong Kong. “Clearly from the beginning of next year it is going to get tougher from a competitive standpoint.”