Melco Resorts & Entertainment’s Lawrence Ho has played down concerns over a renewed crackdown on currency exchange in Macau, saying the gaming industry is off to a good start after a temporary activity slowdown in early summer.
During a Q2 earnings
call on Tuesday local time, the Melco chairman and CEO told analysts that the
currency exchange issue had been a “story 10 years in the making”.
“It is not new. It has
been talked about for over a year now. So, and it’s, again, it’s not a surprise
to us, for us, of course it has a bit of an impact in terms of liquidity to
players,” he said.
Rather than a widely
reported central government crackdown on unauthorised currency conversion
channels, Ho attributed the slow start to two separate factors.
“This year, the Chinese school holiday started two weeks later. So, it didn’t really start until mid-July. So again, it is, what the Euro cup does, which happens every four years, just like the World Cup or Chinese school holidays where, parents want to stay home and make sure that the kids are done with final exams before they travel,” he explained.
Macau authorities
recently added a provision to an anti-gambling bill that makes unofficial currency
exchange on casino premises an offence punishable by up to five years in
prison.
A ban from casinos is also possible under the legislation, with those convicted facing a ban valid between two and 10 years.
On Tuesday, a joint
Macau-mainland operation netted 36 mainland Chinese residents, who were
transferred across the border the same day.
Up to HK1.8 million (US$230,000/MOP1.84 million) in cash and more than HKD600,000 worth of gambling chips were seized from the suspects.
“So, if anything, we’re very positive and optimistic about the future. I think what we’ve seen so far in August is a more typical summer,” Ho said in the phone call.
“And so, we’re happy heading into the second half of the year. And I believe that we will continue to see growth.”
