Stable receipts

Total receipts of enterprises engaged in gaming activities in 2016 dropped by 1.8 per cent year-on-year to MOP228.99 billion (US$28.45 billion), according to the Gaming Sector Survey 2016, released last Friday by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).
Specifically, receipts relating only to gaming also decreased by 1.8 per cent yearly to MOP227.38 billion, a much smaller decline from the 34.3 per cent year-on-year drop to MOP231.58 billion registered in 2015.
The report also indicated that the gaming sector receipts from food & beverage in 2016 totalled MOP506 million, dropping by 7.6 per cent yearly, while receipts from currency exchange ended up increasing by 8.6 per cent year-on-year to reach MOP82 million.
Meanwhile, with a general decline in bank deposits in 2016, interest receipts from the gaming sector dropped considerably by 40.7 per cent yearly to MOP165 million, after a fall in the previous year of 32.5 per cent year-on-year, to MOP278 million,.

Cutting expenses
DSEC data also shows that total expenditure by the gaming sector decreased by 4.8 per cent yearly in 2016, to MOP 96.93 billion, as expenses related to the purchase of goods decreased.
Purchases of Goods, Commission Paid & Customer Rebates, which accounted for 51 per cent of total expenditure, dropped by 13.2 per cent year-on-year to MOP49.48 billion.
However, the decline in overall expenses was offset by a 12.7 per cent yearly rise in operating expenses to MOP23.94 billion ‘in spite of a decline in receipts’.
Complimentary goods and services provided to customers, such as hotel accommodation and food & beverage, represented 45.2 per cent of operating expenses in 2016 for the sector, with a 10.2 per cent yearly rise to MOP10.82 billion registered.
Meanwhile, a 0.8 per cent yearly decrease in the total number of full-time employees in the sector – amounting to 55,794 in 2016 – led to a slight 0.4 per cent yearly decrease in expenses related to Compensation of Employees in 2016, to MOP19.86 billion.
Non-operating expenses – including depreciation and interest paid – from the gaming sector amounted to MOP3.65 billion in 2016, down by 1.3 per cent year-on-year.
The contributions provided by the sector to Pension Funds, Provident Funds & Social Security went down by 1.3 per cent to MOP1.00 billion in 2016.

The gaming value
In general, Gross Value Added, which measures the sector’s contribution to the economy, amounted to MOP155.44 billion in 2016, reflecting a slight 0.5 per cent year-on-year decrease from the MOP154.74 billion registered in the previous year.
The Gross Surplus of enterprises engaged in the gaming sector rose by only 0.6 per cent yearly to MOP135.32 billion.
As the number of casinos in operation went up by two, to 38, between 2015 and 2016, the number of gaming tables also went up by 330, to 6,287, however the number of slot machines fell by 752, to 13,826.