Macau gambling revenue goes down in March

According to the authorities, Macau gambling revenue dropped 0.4% year-on-year during March, amid a tough 2019 for the industry in the Chinese territory.

Macau.- This year is expected to be a rough one for the industry in the Macanese region and it has already appeared on early figures. During March, Macau gambling revenue has gone down 0.4% year-on-year due to the US-China trade war.

According to analysts, the revenue drop was due to the infamous trade war between both countries which caused high-roller gamblers to decrease.

According to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), Macau gambling revenue was €2.84 billion. Despite the year-on-year drop, it was the highest this year and confirmed analysts projections, which forecasted growth to be flat or down up to 6%.

Macau’s future remains shady

The Macanese gaming industry was off to a rough start and JP Morgan warned more bad news may be coming. According to the brokerage, a three year streak of quarterly EBITDA growth may end during the second quarter, following poor results and no actions incoming to turn the tide around.

“For the first time in three years, we forecast industry EBITDA to print negative growth both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year in the first quarter to second quarter of 2019, driven not only by anaemic GGR momentum (expected), but also by relatively soft margins (lesser-known),” JP Morgan analysts DS Kim and Sean Zhuang said.