GGRAsia – Iao Kun rolling chip volume slips 57 pct in March

Iao Kun rolling chip volume slips 57 pct in March

Apr 03, 2015 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Nasdaq-listed Macau VIP gambling room investor Iao Kun Group Holding Co Ltd announced unaudited rolling chip turnover of US$0.76 billion for March, down by 57 percent from a year earlier.

Its win rate for March was 4.51 percent, the firm said in a statement on Thursday.

Market wide in Macau, casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) – a different measure of the industry’s performance covering both the mass market and the high roller segment – fell 39.4 percent year-on-year in March, to MOP21.49 billion (US$2.69 billion). This result extended to 10 months the period of consecutive monthly year-on-year decline in Macau gaming revenue.

Rolling chip turnover is a measure used by casinos to judge the aggregate amount of player bets and overall volume of VIP gaming room business.

Iao Kun promotes five VIP rooms in Macau, including rooms at Galaxy Macau, City of Dreams Macau and Sands Cotai Central.

Iao Kun’s unaudited rolling chip turnover for the first quarter of 2015 was US$2.2 billion, down 54 percent in year-on-year terms. Market wide in Macau, accumulated GGR for the first three months of 2015 stood 36.6 percent lower than in the same period in 2014, at approximately MOP64.78 billion.

The company on Wednesday reported a full year 2014 net loss of US$60.1 million, largely on a change in fair value on three high roller rooms acquired during the period.

In February, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange said it was unable to proceed with a review of the company’s application to list its shares in Hong Kong by way of introduction. “The company has elected to not continue with the application process at this time,” confirmed Iao Kun in its 2014 earnings statement.

Iao Kun estimates rolling chip turnover for its five existing VIP rooms in Macau for calendar year 2015 will be between US$8.5 billion and US$10.0 billion.