Macau’s casinos saw year-on-year revenue growth fall by two-thirds in May, the latest official data shows.
Last month, the Chinese enclave’s casinos recorded revenues of MOP26.1bn ($3.3bn) from MOP24.3bn in 2011, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau said.
Although this was the highest monthly total this year, this figure was just 7.3 per cent higher than a year earlier. In April, Macau’s casinos saw revenues increase 21.9 per cent compared with the same month a year earlier. It is the slowest rate of growth since July 2009.
Gaming revenue remains well ahead of 2011’s figure at this stage, with Macau’s operators recording revenue of MOP125.4bn for the first five months of the year, up from MOP103.3bn at the same time last year.
Macau’s annual rate of growth is expected to slow to around 15 per cent this year, with analysts predicting that the incredible progress made in recent years simply cannot be sustained.
