Fancy Ho Chiu King (pictured), co-chairman of casino operator MGM China Holdings Ltd, said on Friday that a slump in Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) will help Macau game operators become more efficient, competitive and ultimately stronger.
She said: “I’m not worried. Rather, I think it’s a good time for the [Macao] gaming industry.”
Mr. Ho had an interview with local media on the sidelines of a press conference suggesting the Global Tourism Economy Forum. The event will begin on Oct. 27 in Macau.
Ho said the slowdown indicates the city’s gaming industry is stabilizing, allowing casino operators to better plan for the future.
The businessman, who owns a 27% stake in MGM China, said casino operators in Macau are now better prepared to deal with volatility and are “not very sensitive to external factors.”
Macau casinos saw their GGR decline for the fourth straight month since June, which analysts cited as a combination of supply-side and demand-side factors.
Official data released last week by the Macau Game Inspection and Coordination Bureau showed VIP sales were down 19.1% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2014.
In an interview with Macau media, Ho said that the focus of the local gaming industry is shifting to complementary services such as entertainment. She said these services will be proportionally more important than conventional projects in the upcoming Kotai large-scale projects. At the 2014 Global Game Expo Asia, Ho said Macau casino operators are “hard at work” to push for diversification.
On Friday, Ho reiterated that all gaming concession companies are planning more non-gaming investments in new properties due to open between 2015 and 2017.
“I am confident that each of us [casino operators] are willing to follow that route, either alone or in collaboration with other agencies,” Radio Macau quoted Ho as saying. She did not elaborate.
Macau’s government has previously said the size of the allocation of game tables for new projects will be related to the size of the construction of out-of-game facilities.
Ms. Ho also talked about MGM Kotai Construction, a $2.9 billion property that the company is developing. She admitted that labor costs and construction staff shortages could delay the opening of a new casino resort scheduled for 2016. She had already talked about the city’s labor pains in July. 카지노사이트
In August, MGM Resorts International, the parent company of MGM China, changed its stance on the opening day of MGM Kotai and no longer told investors it would open the property “early in 2016.”