Macau’s fortunes pick up

1 Macau Studio City

Macau’s gaming revenue swelled more than estimated in September, with new casino projects from the local units of Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts helping draw recreational gamblers.

Gross gaming revenue rose 7.4 percent to 18.4 billion patacas (US$2.3 billion), according to Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. That followed a 1.1 percent increase in August, after a 26-month slump, and compares with the median estimate for a 4 percent advance in a Bloomberg survey of nine analysts.

“In September we had the benefit of recent openings such as Wynn Palace and the Parisian,” Aaron Fischer, an analyst at CLSA, told Bloomberg. “There’s been a shortage of hotel rooms and the new properties are adding to capacity.”