Gambling revenue during the month amounted to USD 3.3B, rising from a year earlier for a 15 consecutive month of gains. That was higher than analysts’ expectations of growth between 13% and 18%.
Visitors from mainland China during the holiday week, which ran from October 1-8, increased 11% from a year earlier and casino operators including MGM China and Wynn Macau said hotel rooms had been fully booked.
During the third quarter, Macau’s gambling revenue was driven by growth in the high roller VIP segment.
Earnings from Sands and Wynn in the past week have shown strong VIP gains but analysts are cautious about the sustainability of recent strength due to macro-economic factors such as a slowdown in money supply growth and real estate pricing.
The VIP segment, however, is very volatile and casino operators are keen to develop the mass market segment.
Sands China and Wynn Macau which have casinos on Macau’s Cotai strip are outperforming companies like SJM Holdings which doesn’t have a presence on the fast growing strip.
SJM, which posted a 16.5% decline in third-quarter net profit on Tuesday, is not expected to open its resort on the strip until 2019 due to delays from a typhoon and a recent fire.