Macau daily casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the second week of November was down 18 percent week-on-week, even amid a pickup in visitor volume to the city from mainland China, estimates brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd.
GGR for the seven days to November 14 inclusive was “negatively impacted by very low VIP hold,” said a Monday memo from analysts Vitaly Umansky, Louis Li and Kelsey Zhu.
The institution estimated the average daily rate of Macau GGR for the period was MOP194 million (US$24.2 million), versus MOP235 million in the first week of November.
Sanford Bernstein said that – based on Macau immigration data and the brokerage’s own analysis – average daily visitor movements in and out of Macau during November 1 to November 10 inclusive, amounted to 52,200, i.e., up 159 percent on the October daily average.
That latest available data was “up 20 percent” versus the September daily average, and “not far (-9 percent) from the peak month of May,” that “averaged 57,000 daily” entries and exits, wrote Sanford Bernstein.
Macau had 30,105 tourist arrivals on Friday (November 12), the highest tally in the month up until then, and the daily average for November 5 to November 11 inclusive was 25,433, said the Macao Government Tourism Office in a Saturday press release.
The Sanford Bernstein team said in its analysis of the GGR situation for Macau’s casino industry: “Last week, VIP hold in Macau may have been below 1.5 percent and is trending around 2.2 percent for the month (well below the normal level of around 3 percent), which has impacted negatively the average daily GGR figure.”
The analysts added: “Month-to-date, VIP average daily rolling volumes up approximately 80 percent month-on-month but hold was below normal, negatively impacting GGR, while daily mass GGR was up approximately 50 percent from September.”
