What a huge difference a year makes in the global gaming hub of Macau, China.
The latest data from the Macao Gaming and Coordination Bureau reveals that Macau brought in 20.1 billion patacas in April, up 16.3 percent year over year. Prior to last August's 1.1 percent gain, Macau had registered 26 consecutive year-over-year monthly revenue declines. Since then, it’s been nine consecutive gains.
The April Macau revenue number topped analyst estimates of 12 percent growth. Macau recorded 18.1 percent revenue growth in March.
Positive News Moves
Shares of resort operators Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd(ADR) (NASDAQ:MLCO), Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS), MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) and Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) were all up 0–1 percent in early Monday trading.
With nine consecutive months of positive growth in the books and weak comps ahead in early 2017, Macau finally seems to be headed in the right direction once again.
February 2015 marked the "high point" for gaming revenue declines during the downturn at -48.6 percent. June 2016’s GGR of only 15.8 billion patacas represented the monthly low for revenue during the downturn and was the lowest monthly total Macau had recorded since September 2010.
In addition to the 16.3 percent growth in Macau’s market in April, Las Vegas also delivered monthly data this week. Taxable revenue from the Las Vegas Strip was up 7.8 percent in March and is now up 2.0 percent year-to-date. Historic Downtown Las Vegas logged an impressive +14.1 percent growth to start 2017.
Disclosure: The author is long MLCO.
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