Analyst: Macau’s VIP growth to fizzle in H2 2017

Macau’s VIP gambling sector may be seeing better days in the past few months but brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein is seeing dark clouds looming over the horizon.

In its Tuesday’s report, Bernstein warned that Macau’s VIP sector may see a slowdown in the second half of the year as signs of slower growth are soon becoming visible. The brokerage was referring to China’s commodity prices, which helped the country “shore up” Macau’s VIP gambling sector.

“As leading indicators, a slowing credit environment may not create headwind in high-end play growth until second half 2017,” Bernstein said.

Bernstein pointed out that China’s total social financing, which is one of the economic gauges used by China’s central government, is slowly becoming a concern.