While Macao gaming stocks fell by about 11 percent across the board this week, MGM Resorts CEO and president Bill Hornbuckle maintains that the industry’s prospects are healthy, Inside Asia Gaming reports.
The stocks tumbled after the central government refrained from announcing SAR-specific stimulus measures during a briefing by the National Development and Reform Commission on Tuesday. Beijing had been expected to unveil further measures following its major stimulus package for the mainland, which was made public late last month.
Speaking at Global Gaming Expo earlier this week, Hornbuckle stressed that gaming revenue during this month’s “golden week” – as the seven-day National Day holiday is dubbed on the Chinese mainland – was up 20 percent over the same period in pre-Covid 2019. “I think it speaks to the general economy and the activity case in Macao,” he said. “We remain pretty excited by it all.”
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Hornbuckle also noted that lacklustre consumer confidence on the mainland did not necessarily have much impact in Macao, as the SAR’s gaming operators relied on “less than one percent” of the country’s population to gamble at its casinos.
He added that the buoyant “golden week” revenues were a “great indicator” of what Macao could expect over the next 18 months.
Hornbuckle acknowledged that gaming revenues were still down overall when compared with 2019. That, he explained, was largely due to a crackdown on junket operators – who used to generate a great deal of income for casinos through bringing high-rollers to Macao.
