Macau Revenues Dip 5% in Q1-2016

Friday April 15,2016 : MACAU REVENUES DOWN 5 PERCENT IN Q1-2016
 
But regulator says that it's an improvement compared with Q4-2015.
 
The Macau Gaming and Inspection Bureau released figures today (Friday) showing that on a year-on-year basis, Q1-2016 revenues are down 5 percent, but (more hopefully) when compared with Q4-2015 there's been a 2 percent improvement.
 
Mass and slots GGR in Q1-2016 was MOP 25.8 billion (US$3.2 billion), representing a decline of 5 percent year on year, but up 2 percent sequentially.
 
Analysts at Union Gaming took a more optimistic stance, pointing out that due to table game reclassifications understating mass performance since 2014, it estimates that mass / slots GGR has actually increased around 3-4 percent y-o-y in the initial quarter of 2016.
 
The company said that this would effectively mean that Q1-2016 year-on-year numbers have grown for the first time since Q1-2014, and hoped that the positive trajectory would continue, forecasting a possible 7 to 8 percent in GGR growth by the end of the year.
 
VIP GGR was recorded at MOP 30.4 billion, down 19 percent year-on-year and up 3 percent on Q4-2015, whilst slot machine GGR was MOP2.9 billion, down 2 percent year on year and up 3 percent sequentially.
 
“We estimate combined mass market and slots GGR eclipsed VIP GGR for the third consecutive quarter; we look for this trend to continue for the foreseeable future and are currently forecasting mass / slots to capture 57 percent of the GGR pie in 2016,” analysts said.