Macau casino sector drags down entire economy

Declines in Macau’s casino industry are starting to show all across the city. According to the Director of the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), real exports of gaming services, their measure of the casino sector’s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) is down 0.6% year over year.

As a result, the entire administrative district is feeling the pain. Real GDP is now 3.2% smaller year over year, marking the first time in four years that this measure has shrank.

Although tourism has frequently been reported to be up, causing the city to consider wild ideas like a tourist tax to help citizens cope with the increased stress on existing infrastructure, that tourism doesn’t seem to be helping GDP either. Tourism services, a measure of tourist impact with the casino sector’s numbers removed, showed a 0.3% drop in GDP as well.

As a result of all this decreased money in the city, investment is reported to be down 32.1% as well in the first quarter. “Total demand weakened due to feeble growth, leading to increased downward pressure on the economy,” the report read.