Operator News
China – Macau’s casinos finish 2018 with 14 per cent revenue growth
By Phil - 2 January 2019
Macau’s casinos completed an excellent performance in 2018 with Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) coming in at MOP302.85bn ($37.57bn) for 2018, up 14 per cent, according to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ).
December’s GGR increased by 16.6 per cent year-on-year, reaching MOP26.47bn ($3.28bn) and beating analysts’ expectations. December was also the 29th straight month of GGR increases for Macau’s casinos.
Union Gaming’s Grant Govertsen said the results were “broadly in line with our initial projections for the year (mid-teens) albeit with an even better mix of mass business relative to VIP than originally expected.”
He highlighted a 15.3 per cent increase in visitor numbers to Macau in November due to the opening of the HKZM Bridge.
“In reality, we believe that true visitation to Macau is increasing modestly, while spend/visitor is also up nicely,” Mr. Govertsen explained. “The mass market remains strong, although our on-the-ground conversations suggested VIP grew nicely during December after a few softer months. As we look into first quarter 2019, and contemplate the timing of Chinese New Year, we would not be surprised if January was flattish and February was up in the mid/high single digits. For the whole of the first quarter 2019 we are forecasting GGR +four per cent, followed by mid-single digits for the balance of the year. We are maintaining our full-year 2019 growth expectations in the mid-single digits, or broadly speaking, in line with GDP.”
Sanford C. Bernstein analysts Vitaly Umansky, Eunice Lee and Kelsey Zhu said: “Macau December GGR came in stronger than expected at MOP26.5bn, +16.6 per cent year-on-year, above Bloomberg consensus of +11 per cent and above our estimate of +12 per cent to 15 per cent. Both VIP and mass benefited from events held during the month, including several days of Jay Chou’s ‘The Invincible Concert Tour’ held at the Venetian Macao.”
