The Macau Metro Monitor, February 20, 2013
GAMING REVENUE DOWN 3.9% IN CNY: REPORT Macau Business
Macau casinos recorded a 3.9% drop in gross gaming revenue during the Lunar New Year holidays in comparison with the same festive period one year before, Lusa news agency reports. Quoting unidentified sources in the gaming industry, Lusa reports that during the first seven days of the Year of the Snake (February 10 to February 16), Macau casinos recorded gross gaming revenue of MOP7.2 billion (US$900 million), down from the MOP7.5 billion recorded in the first seven days of the Year of the Dragon.
Gross gaming revenue dropped despite the city having recorded 937,000 visitor arrivals from February 9 to February 15 (including non-resident workers and students), marking a growth of 15.4% compared with last year’s holiday period, according to the Macau Government Tourist Office. Among those, close to 630,000 visitors came from the mainland, marking an increase of 25.5%.
MELCO CROWN'S PHILIPPINE UNIT PREPARES SHARE SALE Macau Business
Manila-listed Manchester International Holdings Unlimited Corp is raising its capital stock to P5.9 billion (US$1.16 billion) from P900 million, with a unit of MPEL subscribing to 2.85 billion shares or 56.9% out of the total increase. This is part of the move for Melco Crown to take control of the firm, as a vehicle for a backdoor listing in Manila and also as a vehicle for its planned investment in Belle Grande Manila Bay.
Manchester International Holdings has also announced it plans to further sell up to 1.2 billion shares. The company will also be renamed Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp.
MONTHLY BREAKDOWN OF PASSENGER MOVEMENTS Changi Airport Group
Singapore's Changi airport passengers rose 1.9% YoY in January to 4,325,530. The slower growth reflects the difficult comparisons from last year's Chinese New Year which occurred in January.
HAINAN CASINO BAR SHUT DOWN: REPORT Macau Business
“We have shut the entertainment bar. We are investigating it and, so far, it looks like they have violated their operating regulations,” Chen Guangfa, the deputy director of the Sanya Culture and Sports Bureau, told Reuters. “When we approved it, the regulations and the certificate said its operations would be entertainment in nature, but inside the bar there are some games, and they’ve gone beyond the scope of the regulations, so we closed it down,” the official said, without disclosing further details. The local police are now conducting an investigation.
The casino bar had 50 gaming tables with minimum bets from RMB20 (MOP26) to RMB100,000. The punters at the casino bar played with cash but could not win it back; they could only get points that could be used to pay for accommodation and luxury goods on sale at the resort.
