Junket investor Iao Kun January chip roll falls 59 pct

Feb 04, 2016 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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Iao Kun Group Holding Co Ltd – an investor in VIP gambling junket operations in Macau and Australia – announced that its unaudited rolling chip turnover in Macau for January decreased by 59 percent year-on-year to US$330 million.

The win rate for the month was 2.31 percent, the Nasdaq-listed firm added in a press release on Wednesday.

Iao Kun’s business partners promote five high-roller facilities in Macau casinos. The firm has also operations at Crown Perth Casino and at Crown Melbourne Casino, in Australia, two venues operated by Crown Resorts Ltd.

The Macau government on Monday announced that citywide in January, gross gaming revenue (GGR) for VIP play and mass gambling combined had fallen by 21.4 percent year-on-year.

January’s GGR tally came in above consensus, as the month started with a strong New Year holiday week. Several analysts suggested that average daily revenue (ADR) for casino tables between January 1 and 10 was HKD650 million (US$83.8 million).

Later in the month, GGR trends however showed their normal seasonal slowdown ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday period, which this year stars on February 7, said the analysts.

The ADR for the last seven days of January “was about MOP470 million (US$58.6 million) to MOP525 million, about 10 percent to 20 percent lower than the preceding week’s ADR of MOP586 million,” according to estimates from brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd.

Iao Kun announced in January that its unaudited rolling chip turnover in Macau for 2015 had decreased by 61 percent year-on-year to US$6.42 billion. The figure represented a monthly average of US$540 million.

Several analysts and industry insiders expect junkets to continue facing a tough business environment in 2016. The number of licensed junket operators in Macau shrank by 23 percent in the 12 months to January, according to official data.

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