Contracting gaming

Total receipts of enterprises engaged in gaming activities amounted to MOP233.23 billion (US$29.19 billion) in 2015, down by 34.1 per cent year-on-year, according to the Gaming Sector Survey 2015, released last Friday by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).
Specifically, gaming receipts decreased by 34.3 per cent year-on-year to MOP231.58 billion. Receipts from food & beverage totalled MOP548 million, dropping by 10.6 per cent.
Receipts from currency exchange reached MOP76 million, a year-on-year decrease of 24.6 per cent. With a decrease in bank deposits in 2015, interest receipts from the gaming sector also dropped by 32.5 per cent year-on-year to MOP278 million.
Cutting expenses
DSEC data also shows that due to substantial reductions in spending, total expenditure by the gaming sector decreased notably by 32.5 per cent year-on-year to MOP101.87 billion.
Purchase of Goods, Commission Paid & Customer Rebates, which accounted for 55.9 per cent of total expenditure, plunged by 45.1 per cent to MOP56.99 billion, while Operating Expenses declined by 13.5 per cent to MOP21.24 billion.
In addition, Non-operating Expenses of the gaming sector amounted to MOP3.70 billion, up by 4.6 per cent year-on-year. With an increase in loans to enterprises, interest paid went up by 19.0 per cent year-on- year to MOP832 million. Meanwhile, depreciation rose by one per cent to MOP2.87 billion.
Within Operating Expenses, expenditure on complimentary goods & services provided to customers accounted for the largest share, or 46.2 per cent of total, at MOP9.81 billion, down by 14.1 per cent year-on-year.
Enterprises reduced their spending on marketing & publicity by 27.6 per cent year-on-year to MOP3.91 billion. Meanwhile, expenditure on materials acquired dropped by 10.1 per cent to MOP1.0 billion.
Valuable workers
The survey also shows that by the end of 2015, the number of full-time employees in the gaming sector was 56,217, a decrease of 2.7 per cent year-on-year, while Compensation of Employees rose by 5.1 per cent to MOP19.93 billion. Remuneration in cash amounted to MOP18.16 billion or 91.1 per cent of Compensation of Employees, up by 4.2 per cent year-on- year. Contributions to pension funds, provident funds & social security soared by 34.1 per cent, while payments-in-kind dropped by 6.6 per cent.
Expenditure on contractual services, such as cleaning services, rose by 4.3 per cent year-on-year to MOP1.13 billion. Meanwhile, expenditure on rent totalling MOP890 million, water & electricity charges totalling MOP601 million and rent of chauffeur-driven vehicles of MOP439 million, all also registered year-on-year increases.
In general, Gross Value Added, which measures the sector’s contribution to the economy, amounted to MOP154.74 billion, down by 31.3 per cent year-on-year. Gross Surpluses of the gaming sector decreased by 34.6 per cent to MOP134.80 billion.
The Gross Surplus Ratio dropped slightly by 0.4 percentage points to 57.9 per cent, owing to an increase in the acquisition of machinery and other equipment, while Gross Fixed Capital Formation of the gaming sector increased by four per cent year-on-year to MOP2.75 billion.