Macau revenues down again - 33 percent in September

Macau’s woes continued in September as gross gambling revenues dropped 33 percent year-on-year as forecast by analysts, who attributed the drop to China’s ongoing clampdown, slower traffic in the run-up to the Golden Week holiday, low VIP win rate and junket liquidity issues.

Statistics from the island’s regulator showed that GGR in September was MOP17.1 billion (US$2.14 billion), down from MOP25.5 billion in the year ago period.

2015 year-to-date, GGR is down 36.2 percent.

Taking a more positive view, analysts pointed out that the decline was less severe than in previous months, and the lowest decline since January this year.

That trend is expected to continue, with Deutsche Bank predicting a slide of 27 percent for October. Wells Fargo agreed, saying it forecasts a drop of between 27 and 33 percent.

By early 2016 most analysts expect the decline to have slowed to percentages in the teens.