June GGR tracking for 16-18 percent growth: Bernstein

Monday 11th of June 2018

Gross gambling revenue is tracking to growth between 16 percent and 18 percent in June if the currently daily rate is maintained throughout the month, Bernstein Research says.

Month-to-date, the total GGR has been MOP8.5 billion ($1 billion) implying an average daily rate of MOP850 million, the firm said. The ADR number is 3 percent higher than May and 28 percent higher than the same monthly last year.

Mass was up low single digit month on month compared with April ADR number, while VIP volume was down low single digit month on month.

“The withdrawal of Union Pay POS machines at the Cotai casinos seems to have limited impacts. And the first ten days included two weekends, which helped as well,” it adds.

Chinese banks withdrew China UnionPay point of sale terminals from pawn shops located in casinos earlier this month in a move some feared may signal another crackdown on capital flows from mainland China. The news caused a selloff in shares of the Hong Kong-listed operators last week.

Morgan Stanley has also played down fears, saying it expects the impact to be minimal.

“Historical efforts by central banks and monetary authorities (such as reducing the daily and annual ATM withdrawal limit, connecting ATM cards to IDs, and implementation of facial recognition) have had minimal impact on GGR, while making the industry structure much more robust and sustainable in the long term. We expect this to be similar.”