Abnormally normal

No miracle will appear for the city’s gaming revenues in these two months, the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong Vai Tac, declared on Tuesday, claiming that the record-breaking drop in gaming revenues last month was within expectations. “It is not possible to analyse when the decrease [in revenues] will stop. The public should not think that revenues will soar back next month, as it is not realistic,” the Secretary told reporters on Tuesday night attending the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, Chinese-language newspaper Macao Daily reported. In February, the city registered its biggest ever decline in gaming revenue – down 48.6 per cent year-on-year – reaching only some MOP19.5 billion and representing nine straight months of slump in casino revenues, according to official figures by the Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau. Yesterday, Macau’s Chief Executive, Fernando Chui Sai On, also said that such a drop was expected, claiming he will adjust the monthly target for gaming revenues to MOP20 billion in the coming Policy Address, based on the latest GGR that the city posted last month. He indicated that the plunging gaming revenues will not affect the current expenditure of the government. In addition, Secretary Leong claimed that it is understandable that the city’s GGR posted such a mammoth drop in gaming revenues as February 2013’s amounted to MOP30.8 billion, a record high. He added that the MOP43.3 billion that the city generated from the gaming industry during the first two months of the year was the median of the revenues in the same period of 2012 and 2011, despite representing a decrease of 35.1 per cent compared to the first two months of 2013. In 2012, the city received MOP49.2 billion in the two months while some MOP38.4 billion was posted in January and February 2011. “Although the fiscal surplus of dozens of billions may not be posted this year, [it] will still meet the budgeted amount. It is only that we had a great amount of money left [over] in the past, and this year we won’t have as much as we had,” the Chinese newspaper quoted Mr. Leong as saying. SJM positive, Melco Crown worried Meanwhile, the CEO of gaming operator SJM Holdings Ltd., Ambrose So Shu Fai, also told reporters in the capital city on Tuesday that there will not be any surprises with regard to gaming revenues during the first half of the year, hoping the drop will stop in the second half. He predicted that casino revenues will certainly keep declining on a year-on-year comparison. However, he noted that it is possible that GGR may increase month by month. Noting that the slowdown is a positive adjustment following years of increasing gaming revenues, Mr. So said that SJM will focus more on promoting the diversification of the gaming industry. By contrast, gaming entrepreneur Lawrence Ho Yau Lung, co-chairman of Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd., told reporters in Beijing that the situation is worrying, saying “[GGR] has never dropped this much”. He said that this year would be a tough one for the gaming industry, as although the number of tourists had increased their spending had decreased. In addition, he claimed that the drop of nearly 50 per cent last month was beyond his expectations, foreseeing that the year-on-year decrease in GGR will narrow in the second half as the market started turning south in the second half of last year. On the other hand, deputy chairman of Galaxy Entertainment Group, Francis Lui Yiu Tun, told the Beijing newspaper that it is an appropriate time to develop non-gaming business.