Macau Casino Games gross revenue fell 7% year-over-year to approximately 82.86 billion MOPs ($10.37 billion) in the third quarter of 2014, compared with $89.19 billion in the third quarter of 2013. Revenue was down 8.8% quarter-over-quarter.
The official quarterly figures, widely expected from unofficial estimates from investment analysts, were released on Thursday afternoon by the New York City Gaming Regulatory Agency, the Game Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
VIP Baccarat’s revenue fell 19.1% to $46.77 billion compared to $46.77 billion in the same period last year, a significant drop from $57.79 billion in the same period last year. VIP revenue accounted for 56.4% of total casino game revenue (GGR) for the quarter, falling below 60% for the first time.
However, in the three months to Sept. 30, mass market sales rose 16% year-over-year to 27.74 billion MOPs, compared with 23.83 billion MOPs a year earlier.
“It’s the lowest VIP mix since game liberalization in Macau,” Union Gaming Research Macau analysts Grant Gobsen and Felicity Chiang said in a note on Thursday.
“The combined high-yield business of popular market tables and slots continues to grow (15% year-over-year in the quarter), which is expected to last significantly over the next few years, so the revenue mix transition to the public market will continue,” they said. “However, once the VIP market recovers, we expect the mix transition to return VIPs to over 60% share.”
Macau casinos saw their gambling sales fall for the fourth straight month since June, with analysts citing a combination of supply-side and demand-side factors.
According to Deutsche Bank AG’s Karen Tang, VIP sales fell 17% in July and August from 14% year-over-year. “In September, junket rolling fell 25% year-over-year, the biggest drop since January 2009, further highlighting demand challenges,” Tang said in a note earlier this week.
On Wednesday night, Las Vegas Sands Corp reported third-quarter earnings, showing margin pressure in Macau’s premium mass segment. 슬롯사이트
Sheldon Adelson, chairman of Las Vegas Sands and local unit Sands China, told analysts in an earnings call that “despite some clear challenges in the Asian VIP gaming sector, we continued to execute our strategic goals during the quarter.”