Bernstein forecasts 8-12% GGR dip in Macau

According to brokerage Sanford C Bernstein, GGR will drop between 8-12% in Macau during January.

Macau.- Most brokerages and financial services companies have already announced way back that 2019 will be a down year for the Macau industry in revenue terms and, according to Sanford C. Bernstein, January is already showing that trend. The brokerage forecasted GGR to be somewhere between 8-12% down year-on-year this month, according to how it has performed so far.

The estimated dip will most likely be confirmed as casinos have raked only €1.7 billion so far, down 8% from January 2018.

“GGR last week was likely impacted by the continued enforcement of the smoking ban (began enforcement on January 1, 2019) and visitation slowdown in anticipation of the Chinese New Year in early February, which will continue this week and next,” the brokerage said in a recent note.

Earlier this month, investment bank Morgan Stanley revealed that it expects Macau casinos to post an overall gross gaming revenue 2% smaller year-on-year. Bernstein had GGR going down as well, as it expects it to shrink from 14% (2018) to 3% this year.