This year would probably close with a positive perspective for casino industry in Macau, after surviving two years of bad news. Since the Chinese government of Xi Jinping has reinforced the measures against VIP services in the exclusive casino territory in 2014, the gaming venues started perceiving a deep fall in its monthly revenues.
According to the city’s Statistics and Census Service, Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 4.0 percent year-on-year in real terms for the three months until September 30. It was the first such quarterly year-on-year rise since the second quarter of 2014 when the city’s economy expanded by 5.7 percent.
The statistics bureau said the local economy’s growth in the third quarter was mainly due to increases in exports of services and in investment. The Gaming service in Macau is included in exports when calculating the city’s GDP. That is in order to reflect spending by tourists in the city’s casinos.
The DSEC reported showed that Macau casinos are expanding by 4 percent year-on-year in real terms in the third quarter of the year. The external demand of the industry grew during the last three months, leading to a further development in exports of gaming services as well as an export of other tourism services.
The period of July to September, exports of gaming services went up by 0.2 percent.
Macau’s GDP performance trends in recent years have coincided with casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) trends in the city, highlighting the importance of the gaming sector to the local economy. The gaming business was negatively affected by a slump in GGR that began in the third quarter of 2014 and extended for two years. Casino GGR in Macau posted its first increase in the third quarter of 2016: it went up by 1.2 percent in year-on-year terms.
Investment analysts covering the sector have attributed the GGR decline recorded in Macau between mid-2014 and mid-2016 to several factors, including the ongoing anti-corruption drive in Mainland China; a slowdown in the Chinese economy; and increased scrutiny by the Macau government focused on the city’s casino junket system.
Also helping Macau’s GDP performance in the third quarter of 2016 was the construction of several casino resorts on Cotai. Two new large-scale properties the Wynn Palace and the Parisian Macao opened during the July to September quarter.
In the first nine months of 2016, Macau’s economy contracted by 5.4 percent year-on-year in real terms, according to Tuesday’s data.
The investment of major casino companies, such as Sands Corporation and MGM Resorts, has boosted the Asian market and may lead to a continuous growth in the next months.
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In march, a total of 36.301 billion yuan of lottery tickets were sold nationwide, a year-on-year decrease of 5.509 billion yuan or 13.2%. Among them, the sales of welfare lottery institutions were 12.632 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 899 million yuan, a decrease of 6.6%; the sales of sports lottery institutions were 23.669 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 4.610 billion yuan, a decrease of 16.3%. This is mainly because the market was closed during the Spring Festival holiday in February this year.
Cumulatively from January to February, a total of 93.865 billion yuan in lottery tickets were sold nationwide, an increase of 18.832 billion yuan or 25.1% year-on-year.
Among them, the sales of welfare lottery institutions were 32.322 billion yuan, an increase of 7.950 billion yuan or 32.6% year-on-year; the sales of sports lottery institutions were 61.543 billion yuan, an increase of 10.882 billion yuan or 21.5% year-on-year.
Foreigner-only casino operator Grand Korea Leisure which operates three casinos in South Korea and Seoul and Busan under the Seven Luck brand reported a 19.9% month-on-month increase in casino revenue to KRW40.4 billion (US$29.9 million) in March, which was also 4.4% higher than the same month in 2023.
The strong result, comprising a 19.7% sequential increase in table revenue to KRW37.3 billion (US$27.6 million) and 22.7% increase in slots revenue to KRW3.06 billion (US$2.27 million), came off a 10.1% improvement in drop to KRW321.1 billion (US$237.5 million).
This brings casino sales for the first three months of 2024 combined to KRW93.7 billion (US$69.3 million), down 12.9% on the same period last year but on the rise after a slow start to the year.
Table drop of KRW916.0 billion (US$677.4 million) through March is up 21.5% higher year-on-year.
This March 28th Of the 257 House members in attendance, 253 voted in favor of the casino gaming legislation. Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat said a casino feasibility study could now be advanced to national government’s cabinet. Assuming momentum continues building, it’s possible the first gaming venue in Thailand could open its doors before MGM Resorts International’s (NYSE: MGM) Osaka integrated resort. The first Japanese casino hotel is expected to open in 2030.
Thailand’s National Assembly to debate introducing casinos on March 28
Assuming two years to finalise a regulatory framework and three years to construct, the first entertainment centre may only open in 2029 (in Thailand),” said Maybank Investment Bank in a note to clients.
Should Thailand’s national cabinet formally approve entertainment complexes, it’s possible that up to eight such venues will be permitted and it’s likely that awarding of gaming licenses will occur in phases.
Thailand Casinos Could Beat Japan Efficiency, Emulate Singapore Model
Owing to its reputation as major tourist destination in Southeast Asia and its penchant for attracting visitors from China and the West, Thailand was already expected to attract some of the gaming industry’s biggest names in terms of bidding for casino permits.
That scenario could be amplified should the Thai government continue displaying efficiency in the legalization and regulatory process. Delays and lack of clarity on those fronts are why so many of the industry’s largest operators eventually threw in the towel on Japan, leaving that country with just the MGM Osaka venue to start its move into casino gaming.
Analysts also expect Thailand’s casino framework will be closer to that of Singapore than Macau and low tax rates could be another draw to international operators.
“Proposed gaming tax rates are low at 17 percent and social safeguards à la [in the manner of] Singapore will be proposed,” noted Maybank analysts.
Singapore is home to just two integrated resorts, which are operated by Genting Singapore and a unit of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS).
It’s expected that Thai entertainment complexes featuring casinos could boost tourism spending in the country by as much as 52% annually. That’s one reason why the country will likely draw bids from some of the biggest names in the gaming industry.
Thailand’s National Assembly will discuss the potential casino bill in the lower house on March 28 with the bold ambition to take on Macau and Japan with a minimum investment of US$3bn.
Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat said: “The bill has been drafted and submitted to the House. The next step will depend on the House’s decision. If the House approves it, I’ll pass it on to the Cabinet to deliberate and the final decision will depend on the Cabinet.” There is expected to be strong bilateral support on the parliamentary floor for the gaming bill.
The House of Representatives has already recomended that casino complexes should be built with no more than five per cent of the floor space dedicated to gaming in up to five locations with Bangkok, Pattaya, Rayong, Phuket, Krabi, and Phang Nga all suggested as ideal locations.
Thai authorities failed in their try to size illegal gambling
An initial casino in the Greater Bangkok area, along with gaming floors in seaside southern regions could generate at least $11bn in taxes if tax was set at 30 per cent. However, the proposal is for a 17 per cent casino tax in line with Singapore to attract foreign investors.
The Royal Thai Police has said that access to casinos should be restricted with age, financial status as well nationality should be used as criteria for allowing access to legalised casinos. They also put forward that casinos should be developed away from communities and educational institutions.
MGM China Holdings has implemented what its leadership called a “chip-in-chip programme” to track every chip used on the gaming floor, saying that gamblers shunned private rooms dedicated to foreign gamblers.
The revelation was made by William Hornbuckle, CEO of MGM Resorts International, at a J.P. Morgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant and Leisure Management Access Forum season on 14 March.
According to him, the initiative has been enforced for several years to track all the chips in circulation.
“The benefit of that at the time was no errors to the game,” he said. “You knew exactly where to put your labour. There was a bunch of back-end benefits in terms of accounting, finance, and etc.”
Referring to the foreigner-only gaming zone – an addition under the new gaming law enforced early last year that could allow casino operators to enjoy a 5 percent levy exemption, Hornbuckle said that some gamblers from abroad did not find the idea of being isolated attractive.
“The only way to track that effectively because it was a different tax bracket was to put it in independent private rooms. And so that meant everyone from Thailand, go over to that little room over there and gamble in there, where customers didn’t like it.”
When the new policy was unveiled in 2022, Cheong Weng Chon, the spokesperson for the Executive Council, had already emphasised that foreign punters would have the opportunity to use a different type of gambling chip.
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