Reforms to fuel Macau’s 2017 GGR: DICJ

Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) will continue to track an upward trajectory in 2017 on the back of mass-market gamblers and the government’s tighter regulations on risky bettors, Macau’s casino regulator said.

Paulo Chan, director of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), painted a rosy picture for Macau as he credited the stricter regulations that the government implemented concerning junket operators, money laundering and phone betting this year.

But Chan was cautious in giving an estimate on Macau’s 2017 GGR, which he pegged at MOP200 billion ($25 billion). The estimate was the same amount that the casino regulator projected for 2016 and 13 percent below the estimates of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Chan said he has taken into account the slowing Chinese economy, a depreciating yuan and the uncertainties of a new U.S. presidential administration in giving his GGR forecast.