Macau’s casino industry will post gross gaming revenue of up to MOP28 billion in the month of January. HSBC bank analyst Sean Monaghan estimates the enclave’s gross gaming revenue will be up 11 percent on last year and reach MOP27.9bn for the first month of the year. Monaghan’s estimates are based on the first 27 days figures that showed casinos taking MOP24.5bn in revenue – an average of MOP907 million a day. Sterne Agee analyst David Bain is never far from prediction based conversations and he delivered a note that stated performance had only reached MOP23.2bn in revenue to January 27. It led him to project 10 percent growth compared to the previous year meaning revenue will hit MOP27.6bn.
Sands China is yet to ask government permission on the exact location of 200 new tables that were granted by the regulator last week. Macau Business reports that Manuel Jaoquim das Neves, head of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureauy, hasn’t received a request from the firm to specify where the tables will be going. Neves confirmed that once the firm has informed the regulator of where the tables are going they “will conduct an inspection”.
The same company is estimating their next Cotai casino will cost $2.8billion. Construction on The Parisian is expected to get underway in the second quarter of 2013 with the project set to takes around 36 months to complete. Edward Tracy, Sands China president, is quoted by Business Daily as stating it will cost at least $2.8bn and that’s up from the $2.5bn estimate made by Michael Leven, Las Vegas Sands president and COO, last year.
Taiwanese government sources are reporting that population growth in the outlying Matsu islands hit 11.24 percent after the residents voted last summer to allow casinos to be built. The China Post reports the population of Lienchiang County, the administrative centre, grew to 11,310 residents with nearby Kinmen County showing growth of 8.5 percent to 113,111 residents.
