Well, we like to have a flutter on the stock market here at Online Casino King, and occasionally we like to have a flutter on casino stocks- and the good news is that Hong Kong casino shares seem to be having a good run despite a recent slowdown in Macau’s gambling revenue.
Gross gambling revenue for June 2010 in the former Portuguese colony fell by a fifth from May (which admitedly was a record high) as the World Cup offered punters alternative entertainment (we think). Gross gambling revenue is the amount of bets minus the money paid back to winning players, and is a measurement of what a casino makes before taxes, salaries and other expenses.
June revenue cam in at 13.6 billion Macau patacas ($1.2 billion), compared to 17 billion patacas recorded in May, according to Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
The development of Macau’s Cotai Strip, the Chinese equivalent to The Strip at Las Vegas, is powering ahead again. If it hits critical mass- more tourists are likely visit Macau.
Sands China Ltd. and Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd are the 2 shares to go for if you fancy having an oriental punt.
Shares of SCL and Galaxy were both up 1.5%, (The Hang Seng Index was up 1.4% overall).
Macau Casino King Stanley Ho’s SJM Holdings Ltd was up 1.8%.
Wynn Macau Ltd was down almost 1% as Wynn ‘s U.S. parent, Wynn Resorts Ltd said Wednesday that the Q2 operating loss for Wynn Las Vegas balooned to $17.2 million from $8.3 million a year earlier due to the continuing slump in Vegas.
The Las Vegas Sands Corp. has been losing VIP´s to the Wynn as Junket business moved over to the other casino. (A casino junket is where gamblers are flown to an area where legalized gambling is available and booked into a hotel-casino, both paid for by the junket company’s expense, in exchange for a slice of the gamblers’ losses. In Macau´s case, it refers mostly to the players who come in from mainland China).
Over the long term, these shares seem like a good buy. The economy in China is only heading in one direction at the moment, and we expect the numbers coming out of Macau to continue to break records. Personally, we are going for Sand shares- Sheldon Adelson, the CEO of Sands Corp. seems to be hitting a purple patch both with his Macau business and the opening of the new Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.
