Macau casino junket investor Iao Kun Group Holdings (IKGH) saw its VIP gambling turnover fall nearly three-quarters in the month of July.

IKGH, which controls a share in the profits of five Macau VIP gaming rooms, said July’s rolling chip turnover was down 72% year-on-year to $440m. On the plus side, win rate was a phenomenal 4.52%, significantly above the expected theoretical range of 2.7% to 3%. Still, total turnover is down 61% over the first seven months of 2015.

Like many junket investors that have begun steering VIPs to casinos in other Asia-Pacific countries, IKGH has recently made efforts to expand its scope beyond Macau to offset the special administrative region’s 14-months-and-counting gaming revenue decline. Such international expansion is being credited with helping to reverse the fortunes of junket investor Jimei International Entertainment Group.

Jimei won’t release hard numbers until August 14, but it expects to report a consolidated profit in H1 2015 compared to a net loss in the same period last year. The Hong Kong-listed firm says the turnaround is “mainly attributable to the profit contributions from the group’s newly established gaming and entertainment business since February.”

The Australian government suggested that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies should be treated as fiat money for the purposes of goods and service tax (GST).

The Senate Economics References Committee (SERC) released its report on Tuesday, titled Digital currency-game changer or bit player, recommending to amend the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) decision in August 2014 to treat digital currency as a commodity, “neither money nor a foreign currency,” and should be taxed accordingly.

The committee took the view that the current ATO treatment of bitcoin creates a double taxation effect, and results in additional burdens for companies.

“Without a doubt, the main benefit will be the confidence and certainty that removing a GST will provide to our own digital entrepreneurs, and the foreign businesses who want to set up here. The Treasury ministers need to work with the states to make the changes necessary to bring our legislation into the 21st century,” Labor Senator Sam Dastyari, also chairman of the committee, told the Australian Financial Review.

Casino operator MGM Resorts International’s domestic gaming operations helped offset a serious downturn in its Macau business during Q2 2015.

MGM reported revenue of $2.39b in the three months ending June 30, down 7.5% from the same period last year. The drop was entirely the result of a 16% decline in gaming revenue, most of which occurred at MGM China. Operating income fell 1.6% to $348.5m while net income fell 11% to $97.5m.

MGM China’s revenue fell 33% to $557m while earnings dropped 37% to $132m, which sound terrible until you compare it with the truly horrific declines recently reported by Sands China and Wynn Macau. MGM Macau’s VIP tables reported revenue and turnover down 43% and 54% respectively, more than enough to offset a 0.5 point gain in VIP win to 3.2%. Things were slightly less dire at the mass market tables, where revenue fell 23%.

MGM China CEO Grant Bowie said MGM Macau had sought to address the VIP decline by shifting 49 tables from VIP to mass, with mass now representing 60% of the property’s total table allocation. Despite the recent opening of Galaxy Macau’s Phase 2, Bowie said MGM Macau had managed to increase its market share in June. Bowie also confirmed that the in-development MGM Cotai resort remained on target for a Q4 2016 opening.

Scientific Games boss Gavin Isaacs announced on Monday that the company made significant progress across key financials during the three months ending June 30.

US gaming and lottery supplier Scientific Games Corp. posted revenue of $691.5m in the second quarter, up 66% from the same period last year and $32.8m more than the first quarter of this year.

Attributable earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (AEBITDA) increased to $266m, compared to $132.1m in Q2 of 2014.

The strong performance of the interactive business, which grew 60% to $51.6m, and a 154% upsurge to $449.7m in gaming revenue including Bally Technologies’ contribution, helped the company’s overall revenue.