Total receipts and total expenditure of the Macau gaming sector amounted to US$ 7.25 billion and US$ 3.82 billion, up by 22% and 28% respectively over 2005. Gross value added, a measure of the sector’s contribution to the economy, rose by 22% to US$ 4.26 billion; gross fixed capital formation soared by 284% over 2005 to US$ 448 million.

Total receipts of the gaming sector reached US$ 7.36 billion in 2006, of which the receipts from gaming services amounted to US$ 7.31 billion, an increase of 22% compared with 2005. Interest receipts totalled US$ 41.5 million.

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Posted in Economy, Macau Business, Macau Casino, Macau Gaming No Comments »

Melco PBL ’s casino joint venture has fallen at least $US130 million short in its latest capital raising in the US amid pessimism about the gambling sector.

Melco PBL yesterday announced it had raised another $US581 million in the US, $219 million less than the $US800 million it had hoped to raise. The banks managing the share sale — Deutsche Bank, UBS and Citigroup — have an option to buy $86 million stock in the next 30 days.

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Posted in City of Dreams, Crown Macau, Macau Business, Melco Crown 1 Comment »

A District Court judge Wednesday set back efforts by casino operator Sheldon Adelson to keep sealed pretrial depositions and other business information that his attorneys said could threaten the billionaire’s growing Chinese operations.

Rusty Hardin and Sam Lionel, attorneys for the Las Vegas Sands Corp., argued during a hearing in a case filed more than 18 months ago that releasing the sealed information could put the casino operator’s Macau gaming license in jeopardy.

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Posted in Las Vegas Sands, Macau Business, Macau Casino, Macau General, Sheldon Adelson, Social and Politics No Comments »

Manuel Neves, director of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), predicts that the local gaming and betting sector’s annual gross receipts will “very probably” reach 100 billion patacas at the end of the decade, when he expects the number of casinos to reach 34 or 35. Mr. Neves made the forecast in an interview with the latest edition of the Portuguese-language Revista Macau, a quarterly magazine published by Delta Edicoes on behalf of the Government Information Bureau (GCS).

According to the DICJ, the gaming and betting sector’s gross receipts reached a record HK$ 55.88 billion at the end of last year (the DICJ uses a Hong Kong dollar/pataca exchange rate of 1:1 in spite of the fact that the official peg rate stands at 1:1.03). The number of casinos now amounts to 26.

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Posted in Economy & Business, Macau Business, Macau Casino, Macau Gaming, Macau General No Comments »

Morgan Stanley strategist Rob Hart is cautious about Macau gaming stocks.
Competition is intensifying as established casino operators compete in a relatively small area, but at the same time new casinos are creating job opportunities which are going to boost Macau’s residential property sector, according to a Morgan Stanley strategist.

Additional casinos, retailers and hotel spaces in Asia’s Las Vegas will outstrip demand over the next three years, the US investment bank argues in a research report. VIP revenue per table will halve and mass revenue per table will fall 40% over the coming three to four years.

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Posted in Macau Casino, Macau Gaming, Macau Property, Macau Retail, Singapore Casino No Comments »

Macau’s first-quarter gaming revenue surged 44% from a year earlier as casinos opened in the past three years gained more customers.

The Chinese city’s gambling industry reaped 18.1bil patacas (US$2.25bil) of revenue, according to figures posted yesterday on the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau’s website.

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Posted in Cotai Strip, MGM Mirage, Macau Business, Sheldon Adelson, Wynn Macau, Wynn Resorts No Comments »

Significant Milestones Achieved
Opens 4 Casinos Including Its Flagship StarWorld, Captures 22% Market Share, and Tops Out Galaxy Mega Resort Tower at the Cotai Strip.

Galaxy Entertainment Group Limited (”Galaxy”) today announces its full year financial results for the year ended 31 December 2006. Galaxy has capitalized on the fast growing gaming market in Macau to position itself as one of the dominant Casino Operators within the Macau gaming market.

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Posted in Cotai Strip, Galaxy Entertainment, Galaxy Grand Waldo, Galaxy Mega Resort, Galaxy Star World, Macau Business No Comments »

Three gambling operators became six. Nowadays, there are many more in Macau sharing the gross gaming revenue without a concession. All because the system has been changing since the 1980’s. Official sources are saying that presently “the system is on the verge of its breaking point”. Up against the wall, the government will react by changing the law. The first step is to bar new entrances, such as Star Cruises, Richard Branson or Donald Trump.

More and more companies not holding concessions or subconcessions continue entering the market and share the oligopoly’s revenues. Several sources reached the same conclusion and pointed out that a meltdown will occur if Law 16/2001 - which sets the regulatory framework of the system - is not changed and if the government is not willing to take a stand.

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Posted in CapitaLand, Macau Business, Melco Crown, STDM | SJM, Sands Macau, Stanley Ho No Comments »