Local gambling participation down in Macau
A new report indicates that gambling activity from local residents in Macau has decreased by 10% in 2019.
Macau.- The Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming has released a report detailing that approximately 40% of adult Macau residents have engaged in gambling activity in 2019. While the figure seems positive, it also represents a 10% decline when compared to the numbers a similar study showed in 2016.
The institute from the University of Macau revealed that gaming participation has declined 27% since 2003. In that year, around 67.9% of locals said that they had participated in gambling activities within that year.
Macau has a population of over 600k people, and the survey revealed that less than 1% of local citizens responded with answers that would lead regulators to believe that they have a gambling disorder.
Casino revenue likely to decline in Q4 in Macau
Morgan Stanley said that casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) is likely to be down every month of Q4 in Macau. Analysts Praven Choudhary, Thomas Allen and Gareth Leung said that October GGR would be 6% down year-on-year. November and December would both register a 9% decline year-on-year, ending Q4 on a bad note.
“We expect Q4 revenue growth for both mass and VIP to decelerate compared to the first nine months in Macau. Driven by high [2018] base, lower [tally of] overnight visitors and general economic slowdown,” said the analysts.
Moreover, the Morgan Stanley analysts said that they expect third-quarter property EBITDA to be down 1%. “Also weaker than seasonality of an 8% increase quarter-on-quarter,” they said.
