Macau strengthens anti-money laundering policies

Further controls on financial operations have led to major drops on international casino stocks.

Macau.- New modality of ATMs services in the Chinese casino region of Macau has impacted on international casino stocks, as investors believe further controls on money operations may jeopardise the gaming industry. UnionPay’s renewal of ATMs machines has led to severe drops on Macau operators’ financial positions.

Authorities will be able to further control transactions among regional casino players, as UnionPay is installing a latest technology that operates ATM machines with facial recognition features, according to Casino.org. The company provides the only baking card in the Asian country and is managed by public People’s Bank.

The measure aims at limiting money laundering strategies in Macau, which is strongly controlled by the government due to the internationally relevant money flow throughout its casinos. The announcement was immediately rejected by investors, leading to several drops on companies’ stocks.

After the announcement, the New York Exchange-traded Las Vegas Sands fell 3 percent, followed by MGM Resorts, which reported a drop of 1.4 percent. Wynn Resorts also fell 1.5 percent yesterday. Furthermore, Melco Entertainment perceived the major impact by falling 4.5 percent.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan released a statement that highlights the excellent results the industry is experiencing in Macau, after two years of financial crisis. “The casino stocks retraction this week follows multiple financial reports showing promising gains in Macau. Sands, MGM, Wynn, and Melco all recently posted better-than-expected first-quarters, and overall gaming revenue is up nearly 14 percent across the city through the first four months of 2017,” stated the company.