Macau gaming revenues slow down

Gambling in the former Portuguese enclave of Macau during January 2013 has yielded a 7.3 percent rise in gaming revenue, lower than the 10-12 percent expected by analysts reported Reuters.

Macau revenues’ slow down ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday period is attributed to high rollers scaling back their bets on the back of China’s economic and political conditions but are expected to increase as the holiday period begins.

The Macau Gaming and Inspection Bureau reported January revenue’s of MOP 26.9 billion (US$3.6 billion).

“It is still a very tepid rebound in terms of the political transfer in China,” Michael Ting, an analyst at CIMB-GK Securities in Hong Kong told Reuters, adding that the VIP market of top-spending gamblers was still on shaky ground.

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