GGRAsia – Iao Kun’s rolling chip down 58 pct in 1H2015

Iao Kun’s rolling chip down 58 pct in 1H2015

Jul 07, 2015 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Iao Kun Group Holding Co Ltd – an investor in VIP gambling junkets in Macau and Australia – announced that its unaudited rolling chip turnover in Macau for the first half of 2015 fell 58 percent in year-on-year terms, to US$3.92 million.

The figure represented a monthly average of US$0.65 billion in the first half of 2015, compared to an average of US$1.57 billion per month recorded by the company for the first six months of 2014, Iao Kun said in a filing on Monday.

The firm didn’t give a commentary on the reasons for the deterioration. But in a filing last week, Iao Kun cited “a decreasing trend of VIP baccarat, consistent with the overall decline of gaming revenue in Macau” and “the economic downturn and the ongoing anti-corruption campaign in mainland China”, as reasons for its 48-percent year-on-year revenue decline in the first quarter of 2015.

Iao Kun’s unaudited rolling chip turnover in Macau for June stood at US$0.54 billion, a decrease of 60 percent compared with a year earlier, the firm stated. The win rate for the month was 2.50 percent, it added.

The Macau government last week announced that citywide in the first half of 2015, gross gaming revenue – another measure of casino industry performance – for Macau VIP play and mass gambling combined, had fallen by 37 percent year-on-year.

Iao Kun’s business partners promote five high-roller facilities in Macau casinos.

On May 15, Iao Kun announced the completion of a deal allowing the firm to expand its casino junket operations to Crown Perth Casino and to Crown Melbourne Casino, in Australia.