The Macau government will review its casino industry, chief executive Fernando Chui said over the weekend as China’s President Xi Jinping wrapped up his visit there.
Xi used his visit to encourage Macau officials to “find greater courage” to strengthen regulation of Macau’s leading industry. Xi and the mainland government have thrown a chill into the Macau casino industry in recent months at they crack down on the flight of money from China to Macau and out of the country, as well as on corruption by government officials.
Indicating perhaps the worst of the ominous warnings are over, Macau casino stocks had a fairly calm day on Friday as Xi landed in Macau to mark the country’s 15th year under Chinese rule. In New York, all four US-listed Macau operators rose substantially, from Wynn’s 3.45 per cent advance to MGM Resorts’ 4.79 per cent.
That followed the rebound in Hong Kong, where SJM stock rose 3.86 per cent, Melco Crown jumped 2.68 per cent and MGM China rose 0.84 per cent. The others were even or just slightly down.
Thus, the stocks enjoyed their second straight day of stability after a several-month rout that has seen them lose 30 to 50 per cent of their market value.
Source: Fantini’s Gaming Report
