Second half could see a slowdown
When Macau’s gross gaming revenues are tallied for June, investment analysts say they could reflect a year-on-year increase of up to 30 percent.
As reported in GGRAsia, Japanese brokerage Nomura expects GGR growth for June to grow between 25 percent and 30 percent year-on-year.
“Consistent with recent trends, we believe that GGR growth continues to be driven by VIP: first, volume growth, which we estimate is tracking up sequentially in June, and second, higher than normal hold of around 3 percent month-to-date,” said Nomura.
Brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein is also optimistic about the jurisdiction, and predicts June GGR will increase from 23 percent and 28 percent. “
If the forecasters are correct, June will be the 11th straight month of Macau GGR growth following a 26-month decline that lasted from summer 2014 to August 2016.
While the news is good, Nomura warns that GGR in the gaming hub could slow down in the second half of the year.
“Despite better-than-seasonal GGR growth year-to-date through the second quarter of 2017, we believe upside to estimates for the balance of the year could be limited by tougher second-half comparisons,” it stated.
