Casinos at Australia and New Zealand gain From Macau’s Losses

According to recent data released by the Union of Gaming Research, the gaming revenues of Australia and New Zealand have grown by 20 percent during first two quarters of 2015 which has brought cheer to the casinos in these regions. This revenue upswing is in direct contrast to revenues of casino Mecca Macau that has witnessed a downfall in revenue by 37 percent in recent months. Aggregate revenues from VIP business of casinos based in Australia and New Zealand have shown uptick of 22 percent between Jan and June 2015 when compared to same period last year. This rise in revenue is not surprising as high net worth casino players from Macau are shifting their focus to these locations.

Australia and New Zealand casinos

Wealthy VIP junket customers

The growth can also be attributed to an increase in the number of junket operators between foreign locations and Australia that has helped in increasing revenues of Crown Resorts’ Perth division by 87 percent during first half of 2015. Crown Resorts with casinos spread across Melbourne, Perth, Victoria and Western Australia has a deal with Jimei International Entertainment to bring VIP patrons from Asia and other parts of Europe to its casinos in Australia. There is no relation between growth in casino revenues of Australia and New Zealand to fall in Macau’s casino business and this is clearly visible in the growth of casino operator SkyCity which posted growth of 6 percent.

Casino market in Australia

The casinos of Australia which till recently were focused on attracting local customers has benefited from following foreign junket policy which till recently was popular in Macau. Other casinos in Australia too are taking advantage of this situation and the VIP revenues of Star Casino have grown by 48 percent in Sydney and by 162 percent in Queensland. Analysts state that growth in gaming revenues are due to repeat business from local players in Australia and have nothing to do with losses of Macau’s revenues.