Macau’s casino revenue fell for the first time in five years in June, dropping 3.7 percent year on year to 27 billion patacas (US.4 billion) last month.
The fall-off, however, was less than the median estimate of 4 percent from nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News, and experts largely greeted the results with optimism.
“We expect gross gaming revenue growth to return to positive in the second half of 2014 after World Cup in June and July,” said Billy Ng of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, who forecasts July to hit 30 billion patacas, 2 percent higher than July 2013.
Growth in the VIP segment, which accounts for more than 60 percent of the market, has slowed as gamblers cut spending amid a cooling Chinese economy and a nationwide crackdown on corruption in China.
“Everybody wants to lay low,” Edmund Lee, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong, said.
The month long World Cup football tournament that started on June 12 also has diverted some players, analysts say. Deutsche Bank analyst Karen Tang described the impact as “severe but only temporary” and said the “worst appears over.”
During the last World Cup in 2010, gaming revenue fell 20 percent before recovering by the same scale, she noted.
