Hopes pinned on Golden Week

By
Kam Leong

The city’s Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong Vai Tac, said yesterday that the government forecasts that gross gaming revenue (GGR) will continue to post a year-on-year drop this month. Meanwhile, director of the Liaison Office of the central government in Macau, Li Gang, stressed one more that the continuous drop in GGR is normal given the industry is undergoing adjustment.
“The GGR of February 2015 will be lower than that of February 2014 because the GGR had reached MOP38 billion (US$) in February 2014. We estimate that the GGR [this month] will not be as high, as the 38 billion of GGR [which was the] highest record that Macau has registered,” the Secretary said on the sidelines of the Liaison Office’s Chinese New Year cocktail party yesterday, indicating that lower GGR is usually posted prior to Chinese New Year.
Meanwhile, again on the sidelines of the event, Liaison Office head Li Gang told reporters that the drop in GGR for eight consecutive months remains within expectations, believing the gaming industry will enter a normal phase of development “very soon”.
“After ten years of rapid development, the gaming industry has entered an interim development period… In this situation, I think it’s normal that GGR has dropped for consecutive months,” Mr. Li said.
“Such adjustment is still within expectations. Despite it affecting GDP to a certain level, GDP will not post as much decrease as it did during the SARS period… [GDP] will remain in positive growth. As such, the adjustment phase is a very good base for the stable development [of the gaming industry] in the future,” he added.
Last month, the GGR in the city slumped by 17.4 per cent, reaching only some MOP23.7 billion (US$2.96 billion), compared to the MOP28.7 billion of January 2014, which is the eighth straight month that the city had posted declines in revenues.
Meanwhile, the chief executive of gaming operator SJM Holdings Ltd. said the future full smoking ban in casinos will not be the biggest factor driving the slump even more.
“Even if there’s no full smoking ban, the GGR of the VIP sector will continue to drop. It’s very hard to tell how much GGR will [exactly] decrease following the full smoking ban,” Mr. So remarked.
Nevertheless, the SJM chief said the government should consider allowing casinos to establish smoking rooms inside casinos, claiming that such establishments would not conflict with the full smoking ban.
“In Hong Kong or Macau International Airport, smoking rooms are available despite smoking being prohibited [outside the areas]. As such, we should respect those who smoke as they will not affect those who do not smoke,” he said.
On the other hand, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MGM China, Grant Bowie, told reporters after the event that the continuous drop in GGR shows that it is time for Macau to re-balance its gaming elements and non-gaming elements, claiming the situation that the gaming industry is undergoing is “exciting” and “challenging”.