Macau’s August GGR likely to increase

Brokerages estimate that gross gaming revenue in Macau is likely to grow 22 percent in August.

Macau.- Gross gaming revenue (GGR) in Macau could increase 22 percent this month, as several brokerages estimate based on unofficial daily returns for the month so far, GGRAsia revealed. Whilst it is still uncertain, the number could be even higher at the end of the month.

Nomura, Japanese brokerage, said that based on average daily returns, August GGR is likely to be 23 percent up. As the number is considerably higher, it would still be down from July’s year-on-year increase. According to the numbers from August 1-13, month-on-month numbers declined in ARD to US$89 million when compared to last month’s results. “Our year-on-year estimate for August implies approximately 600 basis points of decelerating growth versus 29 percent in July,” said Nomura.

“We expect decelerating monthly growth trends for the balance of this year given: tougher second-half comps [comparisons] and no new supply to stimulate demand until MGM Cotai opens in November 2017 (estimated),” added the brokerage.

Moreover, Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd estimated a 22 to 25 percent growth, whilst Telsey Advisory Group LLC went even higher with a 28 to 31 percent increase. “Assuming an average daily rate GGR of US$90 million to US$93 million for the remaining days of the month, we estimate August GGR to a range of US$2.7 billion and US$2.8 billion,” said Bernstein, and added that “this would represent a year-on-year increase in August of +22 percent to +25 percent, same as previous estimates.”