Gaming analysts quell fear on Macau UnionPay crackdown

The worst is finally over Macau’s gaming industry as the clampdown against the source of cross-border case for gamblers begins to wind down, according to gambling analysts.

International brokerage JP Morgan Securities and Japanese credit-debt watcher Nomura allayed concerns of a sustained crackdown on UnionPay terminals in the former Portuguese enclave. While the clampdown added negative sentiment to the gaming market, the two financial institutions believed that the crackdowns would not have any measurable impact on the gross gaming revenue trends.

“We believe the latest UnionPay terminal removals and World Cup have had little (if any) impact on Macau GGR so far,” Nomura analysts Harry Curtis, Daniel Adam and Brian Dobson stated in a note issued on Monday.

Meanwhile, JP Morgan analysts DS Kim and Sean Zhuang pointed out that most of their contacts were unaffected by the clampdown “as players are finding other ways to obtain liquidity.”