Macau Gaming Win Falls 36 Percent In AugustGDP Falling Drastically So Far This Year |
|
Macau gaming win fell for a 15th straight month (compared to the same month the previous year) in August. Gaming revenue was the equivalent of $2.3 billion, which was a 35.5-percent drop compared to August 2014.
According to Bloomberg, casino win accounts for four-fifths of economic output in the former Portuguese colony, the only place in China were gambling is legal. Macau’s GDP fell 26.4 percent in the last quarter, worse than the 24.5-percent decline in the first quarter.
Despite the struggles, Macau hasn’t been the worst performing economy recently. The Ukraine experienced the worst GDP plunge last year, according to recent data.
Libya was also worse than Macau.
Macau currently has more than 30 casinos, but more are being built. Two new casinos opened in May, and Las Vegas Sands is preparing to build a Paris-themed resort there.
As the Chinese economy itself is stagnating, the government has cracked down on the flow of money into Macau because of what it perceives as corruption in the process of high rollers getting the cash they want to play with. Macau is a special administrative region of China.
Macau gaming has been relying on junket operators, middlemen which help facilitate the process. The Chinese government isn’t a big fan of current oversight pertaining to junkets.
Other issues such as a smoking ban have hurt growth.
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
