Union Gaming forecasts better Macau growth

The brokerage has revised its third-quarter predictions and announced that even better results are expected in the Chinese territory’s GGR.

Macau.- The gaming industry continues to thrive in Macau as the Chinese territory grows and brokerage Union Gaming forecasts it will keep on the same path. However, it has revisited its forecast for the third quarter and announced it expects growth to be even better than it originally predicted, moving it up from 13% to just over 14%.

According to analyst Grant Govertsen, gaming volumes continued to be positive six weeks after the FIFA World Cup ended and said that mass market gaming is on track to experience a more than 20% improvement and VIP gaming increases are likely to remain the same as they have been, around the 15% mark.

“While last year’s weather, which included two big typhoons within one week of each other, made for a very favorable calendar this August and hence nice [year-on-year growth], the reality is that the absolute level of GGR this August was the highest of the entire year, and only second to February (benefiting from Chinese New Year) on a GGR/day basis. This is cause for optimism as trends have accelerated into the end of summer,” he said.

Furthermore, Mr Govertsen assured that they “get the sense that business remains good and is maintaining a mid-teens trajectory despite fears to the contrary” and said: “To date, there has been no negative reaction (or even precautions) taken by VIP customers as it relates to trade wars and the potential impacts thereof. By and large, VIP and other premium customers have not changed trip frequency or their wallet size.”