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Macau tourist prices fall for the first time in 12 years
The Macau Tourism Price Index, which reflects changes in prices of goods and services purchased by visitors, fell 2.7% year-on-year to 131.5 points in the third quarter of 2015, according to data from the Macau Bureau of Statistics.
"This is due to lower hotel rates and lower clothing prices," the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday
This marks the first year-over-year drop in tourist prices in more than 12 years. Official data showed the index fell 0.55% in the second quarter of 2003 compared with a year earlier.
Data on Wednesday showed tourist prices fell 2.3% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter as lower hotel room rates pushed the accommodation price index lower. In the first nine months of 2015, the tourist price index fell 0.10% year-on-year.
The lodging industry index accounted for about 23.1% of the total tourist price index in the third quarter, followed by restaurant services with a share of 17.5%. The accommodation index fell 10.9% year-on-year in the three months to Sept. 30.
According to data from the Macau Hotel Association, the average cost of a Macau hotel room was $1,512 ($189) in the eight months to August. This is a 5.4% decrease from the previous year. 온라인카지노
In the first eight months of 2015, Macau's cumulative average hotel occupancy rate was 79.5%, down 7.0 percentage points year-on-year, according to separate data from the City Bureau of Statistics. During the period, a total of 6.75 million visitors visited hotels and guest houses in Macau, down 6.4 percent from a year earlier.
Hotel prices and occupancy rates are falling as the number of visitors to Macau continues to decline. Visitor arrivals in the eight months to Aug. 31 were 20.44 million, down 3.2% from a year earlier.
Hotel accommodation is one of the main non-game revenue sources for Macau casino operators. The easing of room rates coincided with the downturn in the gaming industry. Macau Casino's Total Game Revenue Declines For 16 Consecutive Months YoY.
Casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd will soon open a $3.2 billion studio city from a five-star hotel to a four-star hotel. The company said the four-star type is best suited to Macau's "diversification policy for accommodation and tourism products."
Macau junket theft reports hurt Wynn Resorts’ shares
Shares of Nasdaq-listed game operator Win Resorts fell 4.6% on Thursday on reports that a Macau-based junket operator lost HK$2 billion US$258 million over theft charges, analysts said.
Wynn Resorts Inc. Wynn Macau Ltd., which operates a casino in Macau. Wynn Resorts has confirmed that affected junket operator Dore Entertainment is operating VIPs at the Wynn Macau Casino Hotel.
"The current concerns reported in connection with Dore, one of Wyn Macau's junket operators, have no direct financial impact on Wyn Macau," Wynn Resorts.
The company added, "Door owes nothing to the company and continues to operate in Win Macau."
U.S.-based Stern Age CRT analyst David Bain attributed price volatility to Wynn Resorts shares on Thursday "a report citing theft/funding omissions inside the Junket Group of up to HK$2 billion."
He added: "The Junket Group operates in Win Macau, but it is a separate organization, and any funds lost in connection with the case will be limited to the Junket Group."
Mr. Bain did not provide the source of the report or provide details of the incident. But a note from UBS Securities Asia Ltd analysts Anthony Wong and Angus Chan, citing "local industries and news sources," states, "I suspect they went into hiding with investor capital from one of the largest junk groups in Macau, the Dore Group."
However, the memo from Mr Wong and Mr Chan stated that the amount involved in the case could be less than HK$2 billion mentioned in the initial report.
"We note that such initial figures may be inflated, as was the case with sulfuric acid (HK$8 billion to HK$10 billion) in April 2014," they said. The reference to "Hwangsan" was about a Macau school principal who reportedly disappeared with a large amount of cash last year.
The UBS memo states that the Dore Group "probably achieved monthly sales of between HK$9 billion and HK$13 billion, accounting for approximately 4-5% of the industry's total junket sales. The group's main VIP rooms are in Win Macau (two rooms with at least 25 tables), and the connected employees operate at the Lan Kwai Fong Hotel, a third-party casino in SJM [Holdings Ltd."
UBS estimated that the combined two dorre rooms could account for up to 25% of Win Macau's annual junket volume. "This incident is likely to have a negative impact on the rolling volume immediately, at least in the short term," it added.
Mr Wong and Mr Chan said while it is unlikely that Dore will officially operate in other Macau properties, some investors in the company are also likely to be investors in other junk rooms in Macau. "For the wider industry, the incident could further weaken confidence within Junket operators, leading to a more challenging liquidity environment," UBS analysts noted.
Sun City Impact
"On-site confirmation shows amounts ranging from HK$200 million to HK$2 billion are involved in the case," Daiwa Securities Group analysts said in a note. "Even on the lower end [it] is important and quite important," wrote Jamie Soo, Adrian Chan and Jennifer Wu analysts.
Daiwa's team also pointed out that the news could have a negative impact on Sun City Group, Macau's largest operator. Daiwa said, "It's hard to determine the exact relationship between Door and Suncity, but there's an observable connection between the two… We expect the potential negative contagion impact from Dore to have an adverse impact on Sun City's business."
Investment analysts at Credit Suisse AG in Hong Kong had a different view on the case’s impact on Suncity.
“Dore is currently operating a VIP room in partnership with Suncity. Although they operate under one brand, they maintain separate cage functions and will each bring their own players to the VIP rooms,” analysts Kenneth Fong and Isis Wong said.
They added: “There is no credit extension involved between the two. A junket agent with the deposit slip issued by Dore cannot get their cash at the Suncity cage. And we have confirmed such an agreement with Suncity. As such, the loss of money in the cage of Dore should not impact Suncity at all.”
The Credit Suisse team added it believed investors had “likely exaggerated” the extent of the Dore case. Its overall impact in the sector “is likely to be small if any”, Mr Fong and Ms Wong suggested.
They added: “The boss of Dore who reportedly owns a Macau casino and several pieces of land has agreed to honour the debt and the deposit put in by the junkets and the agents. From our checks, we didn’t see this event triggering capital flight at other small junkets last night. We believe that this will limit the impact to the system.”
VIP under pressure
Macau’s VIP segment has been the most hurt by the current slump in the city’s casino industry. Data from the Macau government for the second quarter of 2015 showed VIP baccarat GGR – the game of choice for Chinese high rollers – fell 42.2 percent year-on-year. Industry observers have linked the decline to the ongoing anti-corruption campaign by Chinese authorities, the slowing Chinese economy and also changes to visa policies to Macau, among other factors.
Junket operators play an important role in Macau’s VIP gaming segment. They recruit the high roller players in mainland China and beyond, and crucially make it their business to know how much the players are worth and what they have in assets. They extend credit to those players – in order to circumvent the strict currency flow restrictions between Macau and mainland China –, collect on losses and provide accommodation and other entertainment for the gamblers when in Macau.
The challenging VIP environment in Macau has already led many junket operators to downsize the scale of their operations in the city. Deutsche Bank AG said in a note on September 1 that “at least eight” Macau VIP gambling junket rooms had closed in August, but didn’t mention them by name.
According to several analysts, there also has been a significant increase in the repayment periods incurred by VIP players regarding credit extended by junket operators in Macau. Bad debt incurred by junket operators and their agents is also reportedly on the rise.
Rob Goldstein, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp, parent of Macau casino operator Sands China Ltd, said on Wednesday that the gambling junket business model as applied to Macau is broken “for now”.
Brokerage Wells Fargo Securities LLC last week stated that, after meetings in Las Vegas with senior executives from casino firms with Macau operations, it had found uncertainty about the VIP segment persists. “A few operators even suggested that VIP play in Macau may never fully come back, citing a junket liquidity crunch and tighter policy toward Macau from the mainland China government,” senior analyst Cameron McKnight wrote. 실시간 바카라사이트
Macau June GGR lowest monthly tally since 2010
Macau's casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) fell 8.5% year-on-year in June, marking the 25th consecutive month of decline, official data showed.
In June, the GGR was about 15.88 billion MOP ($1.99 billion). Macao Casino GGR's monthly tally is the lowest since September 2010 MOP of $15.3 billion.
The results mean casino GGR in the first half of 2016 was down 11.4% year-over-year to $107.79 billion in MOPs.
Figures on the market revenue split between VIP and mass market gambling will be released on a different day from the second quarter to June 30.
On a monthly basis, casino GGR fell 13.6% in June. 파워볼게임
The figures were released on Friday by the city's casino regulator, the Game Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
Moody's said in a report this week that it expects Macau's economy to contract 6.0 percent year-on-year in 2016 amid falling gaming revenue.
Futures batting average of .400
The home turf of the Samsung Lions, once called the "catcher kingdom," is in crisis. Kang Min-ho (39) has set a new KBO league record with 2,249 games played, but Kim Jae-seong (28), who showed poor batting performance in the early days of this season (0.191 batting average) and seemed to be in full bloom in 2022, is hardly able to display his strength as he posted a batting average of .200. Lee Byung-hun (25), the future player in the Samsung home turf, is also receiving a chance, but remains at the batting average of .143 with one hit or more. Although the team has three catchers, it is true that his offense power is not as heavy as it should be.
Against this backdrop, there is a player who is showing his presence by quietly raising the batting sense in the Futures League (second division). It is Kim Do-hwan (24), who joined the team in 2019 with Lee Byung-hun. Kim appeared in seven Futures League games, recording nine hits in 21 at-bats for a 0.429 RBI. In a game against the SSG Landers second division held at Ganghwa SSG Futures Field on Tuesday, he had no hit, but took four bases with three walks and one walk. He led his team to victory through snow baseball.
Kim Do-hwan, who joined the team in 2019, grew quickly as a backup catcher for Samsung while his younger brother, Lee Byung-hun, joined the military first. Since his debut, he has played in 61 games and hit two home runs, and in 2020, he played in 34 games and posted a batting average of 0.220. However, his stature has declined significantly since before and after he joined the military. Kim Jae-seong joined the team as a compensator for free agent, and Lee Byung-hun, the same age who was discharged first, saw rapid growth. Although he was discharged from the military after waking up to hitting in Sangmu, he had a disappointing year last year when he only posted a batting average of 0.143 in nine games in the first division.
Last winter, Kim tried his best. "Cold reality. I didn't do it well," Kim said, referring to last year. "I started exercising in early December and worked hard," he said about his sweat from last winter. Kim then went to Okinawa, Japan early before the spring camp in February and sweated a lot. "I was able to concentrate on training comfortably thanks to Kang Min-ho's support for me," Kim said, "I have gradually improved by learning know-how and advice from veteran seniors one-on-one.
Kim Do-hwan, who said he lost 10 kilograms in the military, said, "I gained 5 kilograms again thanks to Minho's advice. It is to strengthen my strength. I tried to imitate Minho from the sidelines how he prepared for the off-season, and he taught me a lot in terms of technology." "He pointed out the timing and points in the batting, and it really helped me a lot," Kim said. "I think the fact that I have a good batting performance in Futures is the result of the combination of what I learned from Minho back then and the advice from the coaches. I really appreciate Minho."
He proved his growth and potential by playing for Futures. Now it is time to jump into the competition again. The biggest competitor is Lee Byung-hun, a fellow player of the same age as Lee. The rivalry between the two players has been raised steadily since they joined the team. "I have known him since he was an amateur, and he has been in the secondary league for a long time," Kim said smiling. "If we do better than competing, we applaud each other, give him compliments and give him advice." Lee also said of Kim, "He has a lot to learn. I hope we grow up well together." 안전놀이터
Close but far away. Kim vowed to prove himself in the first division after continuing his consistent performance in the second division. "I don't know when the opportunity will come, but until then, the priority is to prepare well in the second division. From now on, I really think it's time to do well. I will do my best to do my best to do well no matter what."
Ryu Hyun-jin, who survived, achieved 99 wins, The team lost consecutive games
8.36 ERA without victory in the last three games.
The Korean Monster, which had lost face, came to life after four games.
With his blade-like control and bold body game, he blocked Doosan's batting lineup for six scoreless innings.
He had only one hit, and struck out eight.
He got his first hit by Kim Ki-yeon after the number of pitches exceeded 70 in the fifth inning, but he overcame the crisis by striking out the next batter Kim Dae-han with a curveball after a game that went to the ninth pitch.
In the sixth inning, he sent Heo Kyung-min to second base due to defensive errors and wild pitches, but he finished his mission by catching Yang Eui-ji and Kim Jae-hwan with outfield flies one after another.
Since winning against Doosan in September 2012, just before entering the U.S., 99 KBO League wins in 11 years and 7 months have saved the team from five consecutive losses, adding to its significance.
[RYUHYUNJIN / Hanwha Pitcher: Since losing consecutive games started because of me, I told him I would quit before the game and it was good to keep it]
Hanwha's batters scored the first run with Choi In-ho's double and Roh Si-hwan's timely hit in the first inning against Doosan starter Brandon, who had won three consecutive games. 토토사이트 순위
In the fourth inning, Chae Eun-sung, who walked, was called in by An Chi-hong with a double to the left-center to add another run.
Ahn Chi-hong also helped his team escape consecutive losses and Ryu Hyun-jin win in the eighth inning by stealing a timely hit from Hong Gun-hee, who took his first mound of the season late due to injury.
