Melco Crown topples Wynn Macau

Melco Crown Entertainment toppled Wynn Macau in August to enter the top-three ranking of gaming operators in terms of gross gaming revenue. Last month, the company co-chaired by Lawrence Ho and James Packer got a market share of 16 percent, just one percent more than in July, but a significant increase from the 13 percent it had three months ago.
On the down curve, Wynn Macau dropped to fourth place, with a market share of 14 percent, the Portuguese news agency Lusa reported. The local unit of Wynn Resorts has been falling since June, from 17 to 15 percent in July, and to 14 percent last month.
Although it remains ahead of the pack, Stanley Ho Hung Sun’s Sociedade de Jogos de Macau went down almost three percentage points. In July, SJM had a market share close to 32 percent, which dropped to 29 percent in August.
All the other casino operators have reasons to smile even though there wasn’t any significant shift. Sands China saw its market share increase to 20 percent in August, from 19 percent the previous month.
At the bottom of the table, Galaxy Entertainment also gained one percentage point to reach 13 percent, whereas MGM Macau, a joint venture between Pansy Ho and MGM Resorts International, continued in the last position, with a market share of 8 percent, one percent more than in July.
The local gaming industry’s revenues dropped by 3.3 percent in the last month, by comparison with July figures. Data from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau shows that the casinos pocketed MOP 15.77 billion in August, down from MOP 16.31 billion a month earlier.
In comparison with the same month of last year, the revenues actually grew by 40 percent but this was the lowest monthly increase so far in 2010.
 “A slight moderation in the growth momentum of Macau’s gross casino revenue would probably be a healthy thing at this point,” independent industry consultant Jonathan Galaviz was quoted as saying by BusinessWeek.
“A significant real-estate market downturn is likely in China, and its ultimate effect on Macau would be pronounced,” Galaviz said.
In the first eight months of 2010, revenues reached MOP 117.9 billion. If the growth rate remains unchanged, the sector will need less than one week of September to top the revenues registered in the whole of last year, MOP 120.4 billion.
“We think September could be softer given that visitors tend to delay their travel plans ahead of the Golden Week holidays in October,” Deutsche Bank analyst Karen Tang wrote in a report Thursday.