Iao Kun’s rolling chip down 3 pct in 2014

Jan 06, 2015 Newsdesk Industry Talk, Latest News, Macau  

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Nasdaq-listed junket operator Iao Kun Group Holding Co Ltd announced an unaudited rolling chip turnover decline of 3 percent in 2014 from a year earlier. The firm has not yet issued its VIP revenue numbers for the fourth quarter.

Rolling chip turnover – a measure used by casinos to judge the aggregate amount of player bets and overall volume of VIP gaming room business – for the year was US$16.6 billion (an average of US$1.38 billion per month), down 3 percent year-on-year, compared to US$17.04 billion (an average of US$1.42 billion per month) for 2013, the firm said in a statement on Monday.

That annual drop comes on the back of a sharp decline for Iao Kun in rolling chip turnover for December. Rolling chip turnover at the company’s VIP rooms in Macau was US$0.71 billion in December, down 48 percent from a year ago. Win rate for the month of December was 4.56 percent, Iao Kun said.

The company promotes five VIP rooms in Macau. Since September 2012, all of Iao Kun’s VIP rooms have operated on a business model whereby the VIP promoter shares revenue with the casino operator; rather than on the rolling chip commission model pioneered in Macau VIP rooms during the monopoly era of Stanley Ho Hung Sun.

The Macau market as a whole has registered year-on-year declines in gross gaming revenue (GGR) since June – driven initially by a decline in VIP but more recently aided also by a deceleration in the mass segment.

Market wide in December, GGR fell 30 percent year-on-year – marking the seventh consecutive monthly year-on-year decline and also the steepest monthly decline last year. It contributed to Macau GGR declining 2.6 percent year-on-year in 2014.

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