Bernstein: October gaming revenue up 8.5-11.5 pct

Brokerage firm Sanford C. Bernstein is estimating a year-on-year increase of 8.5 per cent to 11.5 per cent in October’s gross gaming revenue (MOP23.7 billion to MOP24.3 billion), if the average daily rate (ADR) of gaming revenue remains between MOP660 million and MOP690 million for the rest of the month.
In the first eight days of the month, gaming revenue was MOP8.5 billion, with an average daily rate of MOP1.06 billion.
‘The month-to-date ADR number was in-line with our estimate, 49 per cent higher compared with September ADR of MOP712 million and 9 per cent over similar period (October 1-10) 2016 (ADR of MOP975 million),’ wrote the brokerage in its latest report.
According to the analysts, VIP volumes were weak during the first half of the week, but hit mid-teens year-on-year growth for the entire week driven by a high VIP hold rate.
For the mass market, the performance was poorer than expected, up in the low-single digit percentage range year-on-year.
Although the number of visitor arrivals grew during the week, ‘[the] strong visitation growth did not correspond to strong mass [gross gaming revenue] growth’.
The brokerage perceived that the less satisfactory performance ‘remains largely in the details regarding the breakdown between VIP and Mass and overall share data (which is not available) and as such the weight of the overall [gross gaming revenue] number needs to be taken with a bit of skepticism as weekly channel checks have proven to be less than accurate and volatile’.