Macau’s 2Q VIP GGR post slowest growth since 2016

Gross gaming revenue in Macau’s VIP segment expanded only 14.4 per cent during the second quarter to US$5.13 billion.

Macau.- The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) revealed on Monday that casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) in Macau’s VIP segment expanded by only 14.4 per cent year-on-year during the second quarter of the year to US$5.13 billion.

The figure shows the slowest quarterly growth rate in year-on-year terms since the end of 2016 for the Chinese territory after a 12.7 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Until the last three months, the VIP segment in Macau had posted quarterly growth rates above 20 per cent, growing 21 per cent year-on-year during the first quarter. However, the rate of VIP year-on-year growth in the three months to June 30th was slower than the 20.8 per cent recorded for GGR in the mass segment.

According to JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd forecasted that VIP GGR in the second half of the year would see its growth slow even more, down to 9 per cent year-on-year. Its projections match Japanese brokerage Nomura’s, which had the 2019 growth estimated at 14 per cent but recently slashed it down to only 7 percent.