In 2014, Macanese gaming revenue decreased 2.6% to $54.4 billion. This is the first nose-dive of profits ever to be recorded, in 11 years, since 2002, when gambling laws liberated the casino market to competition. Revenues plunged 30.4% cent to $9 billion in the last month of 2014, making it the seventh straight month that profits have been waning.Macau, the largest gambling hub in the world, has seen its revenues steadily decline at an alarming rate last year. Analysts and gambling operators alike are speculating if the global recession is the main cause or is Jingping’s clampdown on illegal money laundering the main cause for concern.The Sidney Morning Herald: James Packer among billionaires hit by $100 billion Macau casino losses

The Chinese government crackdown on corruption in the gambling stronghold of Macau has left a whopping $100 billion hole in the market value of the six Macau casino stocks in 2014. The campaign, including the fight against debit card scams, impacted negatively on gambling activities. This has caused the gambling hub to experience its very first slump in gambling returns since 2002.

Australian billionaire James Packer, and other gambling operators, such as his joint venture partner’s father Stanley, or yet still anti-online gambling campaigner Sheldon Adelson, have all their casinos in a rut. Meanwhile analysts converge and discuss what all this could mean for the world’s largest gambling resort and its fortunes.

The Hong Kong exchange recently revealed in online mobile news, that all six Macau casino stocks listed a combined loss in market value amounting to $92 billion, in the 12 months up to December 31. The parent company Crown Resorts has 33.6 per cent of the joint venture and Ho another 33.6%.

Melco Crown alone lost a whopping $8 billion in market capitalization during last year. The fall represents a 35% decline in stock value just a year after the company’s value doubled, when gambling revenue increased 19% per cent.

However, the current decline in market capitalization has left the company opting to withdraw from the Hong Kong exchange, citing difficulties in raising funds and the need to limit share trades. Crown Resorts, said it was determined though to stick it out in the NASDAQ listings.

Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands’ subsidiary, Sands China, fared even worse. It hit a record low market capitalization of all the six stocks, with a mere $26 billion in profits. 40% loss in stock value was reported in 2014. Stanley Ho’s SJM Holdings, came out a little less scathed, with a 52 % loss in value, representing a market capitalization decline of $7 billion.

Channel News Asia: Melco Crown to delist in HK after Macau revenue slump

Hong Kong businessman Lawrence Ho and, James Packer, son of the defunct Australian media and gambling magnate, Kerry Packer, have communicated, in the latest gambling news that Melco Crown Entertainment has had its first plunge in profits ever, in Macau.

Melco Crown’s City of Dreams resort complex stock would be removed from the Hong Kong stock exchange in order to save costs and for practical reasons. For, to carry the listing would demand ‘additional ongoing regulatory compliance obligations and such requirements involve significant additional costs’.

The company went on to say that for now a solution hasn’t been found to increase profits even with a market capitalization of close to US$14 billion. However it also stated that it would keep its security on the official register of the NASDAQ in the US. Friday, 2 January, 2015 shares closed at a low 4.88% at US$24.16.

The ex-Portuguese colony reported on January 2 that gambling yields went down 2.6% year-on-year to US$44 billion last year. This has been the only decline since yearly numbers were made available to the public as of 2002.

Macau, China’s only legal casino gambling hub, relies heavily on high rollers from mainland China. However, big spenders are being scared off by the anti-corruption campaign launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his government to clamp down on Chinese officials accepting bribes. This has resulted in a slowdown in the mainland economy which directly affects casino earnings.

The Sidney Morning Herald: Packer’s Melco Crown set to quit Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Melco Crown Entertainment whose Macau casino is jointly owned by James Packer’s Crown Resorts and Macau gaming mogul Lawrence Ho has revealed that it will pull out of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange because of the immense pressure to raise money and limit share trades. However, it will remain on the NASDAQ, where its ‘shareholders are far more active’.

The company says it hopes that this move will not adversely affect the asset value or earnings for each share. It explains its actions by citing that “Appropriate opportunities to raise additional equity in Hong Kong have not arisen and maintaining the listing requires additional ongoing regulatory compliance obligations and such requirements involve significant additional costs and administrative burden”.

Crown Resorts who owns 33.6 % of the company and Ho, the same, now have to contend with decreased numbers of gamers from the mainland. Macau, which was once swarmed with eager punters who had just a little more than the China welfare lottery from mainland China, have had better days since public records started to reveal gambling revenues in 2002.

Chinese government’s campaign against illegal cash flow between the gaming hub and its officialdom has been blamed for the crisis at hand. Just last year October Crown Resorts hoped for a turnaround but come year end the chief executive, Rowen Craigie, admitted that “market conditions in Macau did weaken during the fourth quarter of financial year 2014”.

Some analysts speculate that gambling revenues may pick up by 10% in 2015, others think a decline of 9% is more likely to happen. Given the current worldwide financial crisis, the actual outcome will be like that of the toss of a coin – no one really knows.

In 2014, Macanese gaming revenue decreased 2.6% to $54.4 billion. This is the first nose-dive of profits ever to be recorded, in 11 years, since 2002, when gambling laws liberated the casino market to competition. Revenues plunged 30.4% cent to $9 billion in the last month of 2014, making it the seventh straight month that profits have been waning.Macau, the largest gambling hub in the world, has seen its revenues steadily decline at an alarming rate last year. Analysts and gambling operators alike are speculating if the global recession is the main cause or is Jingping’s clampdown on illegal money laundering the main cause for concern.The Sidney Morning Herald: James Packer among billionaires hit by $100 billion Macau casino losses

The Chinese government crackdown on corruption in the gambling stronghold of Macau has left a whopping $100 billion hole in the market value of the six Macau casino stocks in 2014. The campaign, including the fight against debit card scams, impacted negatively on gambling activities. This has caused the gambling hub to experience its very first slump in gambling returns since 2002.

Australian billionaire James Packer, and other gambling operators, such as his joint venture partner’s father Stanley, or yet still anti-online gambling campaigner Sheldon Adelson, have all their casinos in a rut. Meanwhile analysts converge and discuss what all this could mean for the world’s largest gambling resort and its fortunes.

The Hong Kong exchange recently revealed in online mobile news, that all six Macau casino stocks listed a combined loss in market value amounting to $92 billion, in the 12 months up to December 31. The parent company Crown Resorts has 33.6 per cent of the joint venture and Ho another 33.6%.

Melco Crown alone lost a whopping $8 billion in market capitalization during last year. The fall represents a 35% decline in stock value just a year after the company’s value doubled, when gambling revenue increased 19% per cent.

However, the current decline in market capitalization has left the company opting to withdraw from the Hong Kong exchange, citing difficulties in raising funds and the need to limit share trades. Crown Resorts, said it was determined though to stick it out in the NASDAQ listings.

Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands’ subsidiary, Sands China, fared even worse. It hit a record low market capitalization of all the six stocks, with a mere $26 billion in profits. 40% loss in stock value was reported in 2014. Stanley Ho’s SJM Holdings, came out a little less scathed, with a 52 % loss in value, representing a market capitalization decline of $7 billion.

Channel News Asia: Melco Crown to delist in HK after Macau revenue slump

Hong Kong businessman Lawrence Ho and, James Packer, son of the defunct Australian media and gambling magnate, Kerry Packer, have communicated, in the latest gambling news that Melco Crown Entertainment has had its first plunge in profits ever, in Macau.

Melco Crown’s City of Dreams resort complex stock would be removed from the Hong Kong stock exchange in order to save costs and for practical reasons. For, to carry the listing would demand ‘additional ongoing regulatory compliance obligations and such requirements involve significant additional costs’.

The company went on to say that for now a solution hasn’t been found to increase profits even with a market capitalization of close to US$14 billion. However it also stated that it would keep its security on the official register of the NASDAQ in the US. Friday, 2 January, 2015 shares closed at a low 4.88% at US$24.16.

The ex-Portuguese colony reported on January 2 that gambling yields went down 2.6% year-on-year to US$44 billion last year. This has been the only decline since yearly numbers were made available to the public as of 2002.

Macau, China’s only legal casino gambling hub, relies heavily on high rollers from mainland China. However, big spenders are being scared off by the anti-corruption campaign launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his government to clamp down on Chinese officials accepting bribes. This has resulted in a slowdown in the mainland economy which directly affects casino earnings.

The Sidney Morning Herald: Packer’s Melco Crown set to quit Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Melco Crown Entertainment whose Macau casino is jointly owned by James Packer’s Crown Resorts and Macau gaming mogul Lawrence Ho has revealed that it will pull out of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange because of the immense pressure to raise money and limit share trades. However, it will remain on the NASDAQ, where its ‘shareholders are far more active’.

The company says it hopes that this move will not adversely affect the asset value or earnings for each share. It explains its actions by citing that “Appropriate opportunities to raise additional equity in Hong Kong have not arisen and maintaining the listing requires additional ongoing regulatory compliance obligations and such requirements involve significant additional costs and administrative burden”.

Crown Resorts who owns 33.6 % of the company and Ho, the same, now have to contend with decreased numbers of gamers from the mainland. Macau, which was once swarmed with eager punters who had just a little more than the China welfare lottery from mainland China, have had better days since public records started to reveal gambling revenues in 2002.

Chinese government’s campaign against illegal cash flow between the gaming hub and its officialdom has been blamed for the crisis at hand. Just last year October Crown Resorts hoped for a turnaround but come year end the chief executive, Rowen Craigie, admitted that “market conditions in Macau did weaken during the fourth quarter of financial year 2014”.

Some analysts speculate that gambling revenues may pick up by 10% in 2015, others think a decline of 9% is more likely to happen. Given the current worldwide financial crisis, the actual outcome will be like that of the toss of a coin – no one really knows.

Japan is getting closer and closer to that critical point where casino developers will lose their patience and turn their backs on any investment opportunity in the country.

Since experts estimated that Japan has the potential to become Asia’s second largest casino market, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration has been pushing for a change in Japanese gambling laws to open the door to major casino developers before the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. With the way things are going, it looks like the big dream is not going to happen anytime soon.

For Japan, it’s not a matter of “sooner or later”. If investors don’t have sufficient time to make their plans, obtain approval and start building, the effort will not be worth it. Having a favorable regulatory system as soon as possible was crucial for the success of the country’s gambling market. It’s becoming increasingly unlikely that everything will be ready in time for the Olympics.

Reuters: Costs, politics erode chances for a Tokyo casino by 2020

Japanese casino supporters are starting to panic as plans to change the country’s gambling legislation don’t seem to be coming together. As time passes and authorities are still undecided whether to approve the new casino bill, plans to open the first casino in Tokyo before the 2020 Olympics are becoming increasingly unlikely.

Even though Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly stated that legalizing casino games is one of his main objectives, recent gambling news say building costs are skyrocketing, and the city government is not treating casino development as an economic priority anymore.

For months, casino companies have courted the governments of Tokyo and Osaka, hoping that they will convince them to open the market. Analysts have touted Japan as one of the world’s biggest untapped markets for gambling, but authorities are still undecided.

Major casino operators like Las Vegas Sands, Genting Singapore, MGM Resorts and Melco Crown Entertainment have proposed billion-dollar plans for the area, in order to position themselves as potential candidates for a license, should the casino bill be approved.

The parliament just began its autumn session, and the casino bill should be debated. Supporters of the idea are hoping that politicians will make a decision, giving the administration enough time to approve the bill and start making plans by 2015. But costs have become an issue and the Tokyo government is considering scaling back its plans for the Olympics.

Satoshi Okabe, a senior manager at a project being developed by Dentsu, said: “The reality is that preparations for the Olympics are going to be pretty challenging. Casinos are secondary. Building costs are going to spike and foreign casino operators are going to find investment returns inefficient.”

Meanwhile, Osaka is making progress with its plans for a casino and Caesars Entertainment is still interested. “We are actively in talks with potential Japanese partners about an Osaka project,” said Steve Tight, president for international development for Caesars.

Forbes: Japan Forms Casino Task Force To Boost Flagging Momentum

At the end of August, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government announced that it was going to create a task force help speed up preparations for casinos in Japan. Decision-makers have postponed the issue for a while now, but the Abe administration is hoping the task force will revive momentum for the resorts to be open in time for the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo.

Some major gaming companies said they were willing to spend as much as $5 billion or more to build integrated resorts in the country’s largest cities, but financial experts doubt that the Japanese market is worth that level of investment.

The casino legalization bill was introduced in December 2013, but the Diet didn’t include it in its June voting session. The issue was brought up for debate just a few days before the session closed, so there is still hope that it might come up again during the special session held in autumn.

A report released by Morgan Stanley says Japan is facing many issues in its ambitions to build integrated casino resorts. Analysts Praveen Choudhary, Thomas Allen and Alex Poon have concluded that the country’s gambling market may not be as profitable as casino developers are hoping.

GamingZion: Major Casino Developers Eager to Join the $40 Billion Japanese Casino Market

Experts agree that a casino industry in Japan could potentially generate a yearly profit of $40 billion. The news has convinced the world’s largest casino developers that they must have a share of that juicy revenue, so developers like Melco Crown Entertainment, Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts, Wynn Resorts and Caesar’s Entertainment Group have all pledged to invest billions of dollars.

Melco CEO Lawrence Ho said the company was willing to spend as much as $5 billion on a new investment in Japan, should the new law pass. The developer sees it as the perfect opportunity to expand outside of Macau.

Las Vegas Sands, Wynn and MGM are also interested in the Japanese casino market, and Caesars Entertainment has already presented its plans for a $5 billion resort, as Chief Executive Officer Gary Loveman said the company “will have no trouble raising the finance for a world-class facility in Tokyo.”

Japan is getting closer and closer to that critical point where casino developers will lose their patience and turn their backs on any investment opportunity in the country.

Since experts estimated that Japan has the potential to become Asia’s second largest casino market, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration has been pushing for a change in Japanese gambling laws to open the door to major casino developers before the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. With the way things are going, it looks like the big dream is not going to happen anytime soon.

For Japan, it’s not a matter of “sooner or later”. If investors don’t have sufficient time to make their plans, obtain approval and start building, the effort will not be worth it. Having a favorable regulatory system as soon as possible was crucial for the success of the country’s gambling market. It’s becoming increasingly unlikely that everything will be ready in time for the Olympics.

Reuters: Costs, politics erode chances for a Tokyo casino by 2020

Japanese casino supporters are starting to panic as plans to change the country’s gambling legislation don’t seem to be coming together. As time passes and authorities are still undecided whether to approve the new casino bill, plans to open the first casino in Tokyo before the 2020 Olympics are becoming increasingly unlikely.

Even though Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly stated that legalizing casino games is one of his main objectives, recent gambling news say building costs are skyrocketing, and the city government is not treating casino development as an economic priority anymore.

For months, casino companies have courted the governments of Tokyo and Osaka, hoping that they will convince them to open the market. Analysts have touted Japan as one of the world’s biggest untapped markets for gambling, but authorities are still undecided.

Major casino operators like Las Vegas Sands, Genting Singapore, MGM Resorts and Melco Crown Entertainment have proposed billion-dollar plans for the area, in order to position themselves as potential candidates for a license, should the casino bill be approved.

The parliament just began its autumn session, and the casino bill should be debated. Supporters of the idea are hoping that politicians will make a decision, giving the administration enough time to approve the bill and start making plans by 2015. But costs have become an issue and the Tokyo government is considering scaling back its plans for the Olympics.

Satoshi Okabe, a senior manager at a project being developed by Dentsu, said: “The reality is that preparations for the Olympics are going to be pretty challenging. Casinos are secondary. Building costs are going to spike and foreign casino operators are going to find investment returns inefficient.”

Meanwhile, Osaka is making progress with its plans for a casino and Caesars Entertainment is still interested. “We are actively in talks with potential Japanese partners about an Osaka project,” said Steve Tight, president for international development for Caesars.

Forbes: Japan Forms Casino Task Force To Boost Flagging Momentum

At the end of August, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government announced that it was going to create a task force help speed up preparations for casinos in Japan. Decision-makers have postponed the issue for a while now, but the Abe administration is hoping the task force will revive momentum for the resorts to be open in time for the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo.

Some major gaming companies said they were willing to spend as much as $5 billion or more to build integrated resorts in the country’s largest cities, but financial experts doubt that the Japanese market is worth that level of investment.

The casino legalization bill was introduced in December 2013, but the Diet didn’t include it in its June voting session. The issue was brought up for debate just a few days before the session closed, so there is still hope that it might come up again during the special session held in autumn.

A report released by Morgan Stanley says Japan is facing many issues in its ambitions to build integrated casino resorts. Analysts Praveen Choudhary, Thomas Allen and Alex Poon have concluded that the country’s gambling market may not be as profitable as casino developers are hoping.

GamingZion: Major Casino Developers Eager to Join the $40 Billion Japanese Casino Market

Experts agree that a casino industry in Japan could potentially generate a yearly profit of $40 billion. The news has convinced the world’s largest casino developers that they must have a share of that juicy revenue, so developers like Melco Crown Entertainment, Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts, Wynn Resorts and Caesar’s Entertainment Group have all pledged to invest billions of dollars.

Melco CEO Lawrence Ho said the company was willing to spend as much as $5 billion on a new investment in Japan, should the new law pass. The developer sees it as the perfect opportunity to expand outside of Macau.

Las Vegas Sands, Wynn and MGM are also interested in the Japanese casino market, and Caesars Entertainment has already presented its plans for a $5 billion resort, as Chief Executive Officer Gary Loveman said the company “will have no trouble raising the finance for a world-class facility in Tokyo.”