Macau’s gaming revenue to grow in 2018

According to the median estimate from a survey, analysts forecast that Macau’s gaming revenue will grow next year.

Macau.- Macau’s financial situation has been very positive in the last few months, and according to the median estimate in a survey conducted by Bloomberg, that trend will continue next year: analysts expect that gaming revenue in 2018 will rise to US$35 billion.

Mainly driven by high rollers, Macau’s gaming revenue grew 19 percent to US$26.7 bullion this year through October in the Asian territory. The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, Macau’s regulator, has conducted a series of reviews of junket promoters in 2017 in order to establish and observe their accounting methods and how they implement government requirements. Paulo Chan, director of the entity, said that these measures follow proposals from last year that seek an increase in supervision and capital requirements.

“When the market gets better, more people are eager to come back and do business, but Macau regulators will be more cautious during the junket approval process,” said Chan last week.

According to analyst Margaret Huang, strong oversight could be a positive thing because larger junkets can target better-quality players from mainland China. “Operators would also strive to better compete in this market by delivering higher quality, luxury facilities and amenities to cater to this business segment.”