Anthony Apicella has won the French Poker Series Main Event, and first prize of €197,000, after beating the German Felix Lambertz in heads-up action.

Rather predictably, the French dominated the final table of the €1,100 French Poker Series (FPS) Main Event, with six of the final eight players hailing from the land where men like to play in women’s poker tournaments.  What was not so predictable was the make up of the winner.

Prior to this event, 32-year old Anthony Apicella had only ever cashed in two other live poker tournaments. What was the reason for his lack of activity? His priorities lie elsewhere. Apicella only plays a handful of live poker events, each year, because he is busy running a bar in Corsica.

Apicella’s stunning success is once again proof that you don’t have to be a full time grinder to win one of these things. It’s what makes poker such a beautiful game. 1,355 players entered the event, and that created a total prize pool of €1,300,800. It was another record-breaking field for the European Poker Tour (EPT) organizers, surpassing the 1,095 entrants the last time the FPS put on this particular show in Jan 2014.

“This is a victory of love; love of my family, and love of my friends who all supported me throughout the event.” Apicella told PokerStars after his win.

It seems that every day I sit down to write a tournament recap, this week, I am writing about German poker players finishing second. It’s unusual. They usually have their towels draped over the first place spot nice and early – not this week though.

The 2015 Aussie Millions Main Event saw Lennart Uphoff have to settle for second place; the 2015 Aussie Millions $100k Challenge saw Ole Schemion doing likewise, and the FPS Main Event saw Felix Lambertz also filling in that role. Not that he would have minded. His €125,500 was easily the largest single score of his live tournament career.

Casino operator Wynn Resorts saw revenue fall in both Q4 and FY 2014 as the record downturn in Macau took a big bite out of business. For the three months ending Dec. 31, revenue fell 25% to $1.38b, adjusted earnings fell 39.3% to $352.5m and net income fell by half to $109.3m. Revenue at Wynn’s operations in Macau fell 32% while Las Vegas properties fell a comparatively mild 5.8%.

For the year as a whole, revenue fell 3.3% to $5.43b and earnings fell 2.1% to $1.77b. Wynn Macau earnings fell 5% to $1.26b while Las Vegas properties reported earnings up 5.9% to a record $515.2m.

Wynn Macau’s VIP turnover fell 39.9% in Q4 while VIP win rate slipped 0.12 points to 2.8%. Wynn decreased its VIP table ranks to 244 from 273 in the same period the previous year due to renovations on its casino floor, a process Wynn expects to complete before the Lunar New Year celebrations kick in.

Wynn Macau’s mass market revenue fell 15% to $249m in Q4, due to a 8.3% decline in mass market table drop to $634.4m and a win rate described as “the lowest hold rate since the third quarter of 2013.” Slots handle fell 19.5% to $1.1b and win fell 20.9%. Occupancy rate rose 1.9 points to 98.6% and non-gaming revenue fell 1..6% to $95.9m.

In Las Vegas, gaming revenue was down 15.5% to $171m. Table game turnover fell 11.8% while slots handle rose 5.2%. Room revenue rose 6.3% to $95.5m and occupancy rose 1.3 points to 82.1%. Food and beverage revenue was up 5.3% to $103.3m and entertainment, retail and other revenue was flat at $57.4m.

STEVE WYNN SAYS CHINA’S RICH ‘DESTABILIZED’ BY CORRUPTION CRACKDOWN

Speaking on the earnings call, Wynn boss Steve Wynn said he wasn’t threatened by two new projects announced for Las Vegas by Crown Resorts and Genting. Steve noted the proximity of those proposed developments to Wynn properties and said he’d rather see shiny new resorts there than empty lots. Wynn believes that the two new resorts would ultimately enlarge the Vegas pie and potentially add as much as $50m to Wynn’s bottom line each year.

The 2015 World Series of Poker will be another record breaking series with 68 events, 11 new formats, and everything but the kitchen sink.

“If you’ve never thought about coming to Las Vegas for the WSOP, this is the year.”

Those were the words of the World Series of Poker’s (WSOP) Executive Director Ty Stewart, as the full 2015 WSOP schedule started hitting e-mail boxes all over the globe.

I have to agree with him.

After gathering some professional thoughts, and weighing in with my own more recreational ones, I have come to the conclusion that the 2015 WSOP will be the most memorable of my short existence on this planet.

It will be a record breaker.

It’s already a record breaker.

Victor Ilyukhin Sr. wins the Grosvenor United Kingdom Poker Tour opener in London after defeating the Sky Poker UK Poker Championships Main Event Champion, Alex Spencer, in heads-up action.

It’s not often that I am happy to see a larger than life Russian staring out of my computer screen, whilst I chow down on my scrambled eggs, but I’ll make an exception for Victor Ilyukhin Sr.

I absolutely adore the fella.

But it wasn’t always like that.

At first I thought he was a right pain in the ass.

I had seen Ilyukhin on the World Poker Tour (WPT) on many occasions. He stood out because my wife owns Revive Touch and Ilyukhin would hire a masseuse to work on him most of the day.

After Ilyukhin was eliminated he would pull up a pew, next to his son, and watch him play until he was also eliminated. I never had the need to place either of them into my chip counts. Then, one day, Ilyukhin started to grow a stack worthy of mention. Then his son did likewise. As I went to enter them into the back-end of the WPT blog I realized that they both have the same first and last names: Victor Ilyukhin.

I don’t know if this is the perfect time to talk to Seattle Seahawks fans, but I did try to console a buddy of mine who watched the game with me at a packed sports bar.

“Hey, at least the Seahawks are the favorites next year,” I said. It did little to cheer him up. Actually, he might have become even more depressed, knowing that Seattle’s next shot at the Super Bowl, if it makes it that far again, would be a full year from now.

At that time, I didn’t even know if the Seahawks were favored to win in Super Bowl 50 (Quick tangent: God bless the NFL for finally doing something right! No more Roman numbers!). All I knew, and frankly, all I cared about was basking in the atmosphere of the room.

Pats fans were whooping it up like they were going to receive their own Super Bowl rings. Seahawks fans either sat stunned, heads bowed, hands  covering their faces. I overheard a couple in the other table talking about the Malcolm Butler’s incredible interception that sealed New England’s victory, asking themselves if what they just saw really happen?

Then there was my buddy, completely catatonic, unable to even comprehend the dramatic turn-of-events that swung Super Bowl XLIX at least three or four times in the final minute of the game.

“Hey, at least the Seahawks are the favorites next year.”

Turns out, they are.

Cocaine, pornography and reminiscing over past glories are strict no-nos if you want to be a successful gambler. That said, they’re invaluable if you’re looking to get high, hard or allow yourself a brief respite from your mind-numbingly boring current existence, so to each his own.

Dr. David Greenfield, a director at the Center for Internet Technology Addiction at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, told Vice that watching your favorite porn star plugging various orifices with various cylindrical objects activates the limbic parts of the brain. But this cuts off the brain’s prefrontal cortex, where decisions involving moral choices are made.

Greenfield told the Christian Post that when your prefrontal is disengaged, you “don’t have access or full control over [your] judgment,” causing you to do dumb things, like taking a hit on 19. So as tempting as it is to keep that PornTube browser tab open while you’re gambling online, this would be a good time to zip it. If it helps, use this handy mantra: bank now, spank later.

COKE ADDS ERRORS

Meanwhile, a new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai shows that cocaine use impairs the brain’s ability to predict losses. The study involved 50 coke addicts and 25 control subjects playing a gambling game while their brains were wired to detect electrical activity. The participants were asked to predict whether or not they’d win or lose money in each trial.

The addicts who’d snorted some blow in the previous 72 hours displayed much higher electrical activity from an unexpected win than a predicted win, similar to the control subjects. The coke users who’d abstained in the previous 72 hours failed to display this activity, suggesting that they used cocaine to normalize a certain brain function.

But bottom line, the results showed the addicts displayed “impaired loss prediction signaling in the brain.” The addicts had a much harder time than the control subjects “computing the difference between expected versus unexpected outcomes.” This impairment suggested these individuals were more prone to disadvantageous decision making, so lay off the blow before you blow on those dice.

Australian casino operator Echo Entertainment saw its profit spike nearly 78% in its fiscal H1 thanks to record spending by Asian gambling whales. Normalized domestic gross revenue – which strips out the wild variance of the VIP market – in the six months ending Dec. 31 rose 12.5% to $824.4m while international VIP revenue rose 96.7% to $332.2m. Earnings rose 31.5% to $261.4m and net profit after tax hit $112.6m.

Echo CEO Matt Bekier (pictured on the right) credited Echo’s flagship Sydney property The Star for bringing in the bacon. The Star’s normalized revenue was up 38.8% to $820m while earnings rose 54% to $136m. The property is finally living up to the performance envisioned when the company completed its $870m refurbishment of The Star in late 2011. Echo’s Queensland casinos added revenue of $340m (+8.6%) and earnings of $78.1m (+19.1%).

While VIPs have drastically reduced their spending in Macau, VIP turnover at Echo’s properties rose 97.2% to a record $23.2b in H1. Sadly, win rate fell to 1.33% from 1.41% in the same period the previous year, but VIP overdue loan markers fell from $40.9m to $21.4m, which Echo credits to strong credit risk management and collections.

Looking forward, Echo says H2 has carried on where H1 left off. Priorities for H2 include expanding the Jupiters Gold Coast property and convincing the Queensland government to award Echo the right to develop the Queen’s Wharf Brisbane project.

PACKER PISSED AT SYDNEY POLS

Echo’s competition for the Brisbane casino derby is rival Crown Resorts, which is also scheduled to end The Star’s monopoly in Sydney come 2019. That is, assuming the local government gets around to granting planning approval on the $2b Crown Sydney project. Speaking at this week’s opening of the new City of Dreams Manila, Crown boss James Packer (pictured left) said he no longer views 2019 as a viable opening date unless the Barangaroo Delivery Authority (BDA) and the Lend Lease property developer learn to make nice.

Lend Lease won a profit-sharing contract dispute with the BDA last August but unspecified outstanding issues have prevented a permanent resolution. Despite Packer claiming that there was “nothing more important to me than Crown Sydney,” Packer declined to offer specifics on the nature of the BDA/Lend Lease dispute, saying he was “not in the middle of it.” Packer hasn’t been shy about publicly sharing his disdain for government regulation of the gaming sector in recent months.

On February 20, 2015, a hospitable capital of Georgia will play host for Georgia Gaming Congress, a professional international forum devoted to gambling business. Both international and Georgian experts in all market segments of gambling will visit the event. In particular, Nicolas Fleiderman, current Europe-bet.com’s CEO, will deliver his report within the framework of the event.

Nicolas Fleiderman is an Israeli/Argentinean gaming veteran with more than 10 industry experience. Nicolas has more than a decade of experience in the igaming market. He has operated, counselled, and revamped a number of new and established gaming operations during his career. His clientele includes expekt.com, Net Entertainment, Boylesports, Netrefer, William Hill Online, WinUnited-Youwin.com, Interwetten and CityClubCasino. He has founded CBN Gaming, a technology company broadcasting live games from traditional casinos to the internet.

Europe-Bet.com is one of the leading organizations in the market of betting and online gambling. Its services combine a wide range of online products such as betting, online casinos, roulette, blackjack and classic games of the region (backgammon, dominoes, borax and seca). In January 2011, Europe-Bet.com launched online poker. In June of the same year, it launched the online version of one of the most popular game of the region – backgammon. In May 2012, Europe-Bet.com launched online slots of the world’s leading manufacturers.

Main values of Europe-Bet.com, in particular, honesty, integrity, pioneering spirit and commitment to new technologies and techniques, help to provide the best quality in betting and online gambling.

Do not miss the speech of Nicolas Fleiderman at Georgia Gaming Congress; discover new opportunities and solutions for your business.

Buy a ticket now

Detailed information about Georgia Gaming Congress and all the speakers can be found on the event website g3congress.ru.

As promised, Singapore began blocking unauthorized online gambling sites on Monday (2) in keeping with the restrictions of its new Remote Gambling Act (RGA). On Tuesday, a spokesperson from Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs told Agence France Press that the city-state’s digital guardians had succeeded in blocking “several hundred” online gambling sites from accessing their Singapore customers.

In addition to blocked sites, Singapore’s financial institutions have begun blocking money transfers to and from unauthorized sites. The Monetary Association of Singapore has ordered the Association of Banks in Singapore to ensure compliance with the RGA, which was approved by legislators in October. The RGA mandates harsh penalties for anyone caught flouting its restrictions, be they operators, gamblers or middlemen.

The RGA allows exemptions for certain local online operators who make significant contributions to local charitable/social causes. Lottery/betting operator Singapore Pools and race betting operator Turf Club have each previously indicated that they will apply for exemptions within the designated six-month window.

The list of blocked websites will be continually updated but not made public. Among the sites currently being blocked is IBCBet, which had already begun purging its Singaporean customers just days after the RGA’s passage. Other Asian online betting giants like SBObet are also confirmed to be on the naughty list.

Meanwhile, IBCBet has informed all its customers that it will soon be operating under the new MAXBET brand. A notice posted to the IBCBet site this weekend announced the launch of Maxbet.com, which “will soon replace www.ibcbet.com.” The notice said IBCBet will remain functional “for now” and login details remain the same for the new MAXBET site. Customers were told to expect emails detailing the change.

The Philippines-licensed IBCBet is considered one of the biggest Asian-facing online betting sites with a high brand profile, so the desire to rebrand is puzzling. However, the company garnered a lot of unwanted publicity via the arrest of Paul Phua last July in Las Vegas on charges of illegal online sports betting. Prosecutors claimed that Phua’s son Darren told them his father was a majority owner of IBCBet, although other reports have indicated that Phua sold the majority of his stake in the company years ago.

It’s time to get out of European gaming stocks, at least for now.

Something is happening in Greece, a wild card that almost nobody understands. Very rarely in history do these things happen, but political mainstreamers don’t see it coming. They are blinded to it, because they are so neck-deep in the muck of the system itself that they can’t see outside of it.

Here I am not referring to SYRIZA, Greece’s new ruling party, per se (whose leader Alexist Tsipras hates “large gambling interests and profiteering rampages”). SYRIZA is the new radical left wing party that just won 149 seats out of 300 in the Hellenic Parliament to renegotiate the Greek bailout. SYRIZA and Tsipras are just like the others, never saying anything of substance besides a few catchphrases, never being specific, never making any sense. Alexis Tripras is a red herring.

I’m talking about the new Greek Finance Minister, a guy named Yanis Varoufakis. I’ve been following this man for three years now, and I never thought he could actually make it to the Finance Minister’s seat. Unlike the other 299 politicians in the Hellenic Parliament, Yanis Varoufakis speaks like a human being. I think he actually is one.

In a nutshell, it’s like this. If just another politician occupied the Greek FinMin seat, eventually he’d be bought off by the Troika, that trifecta of acronyms like ESM and EFSF that hold all the bailout funds, and the proverbial can would be kicked down the road again. But Varoufakis is not just another politician, and that’s what political mainstreamers, as well as Eurozone leaders themselves, just don’t understand. He’s serious. He wants to default, he’s been saying it for years, and he is the only one with the guts and independence to mean what he says and do it.

Before I get into the seriousness of Varoufakis, the relevant advice is to get out of all European gaming stocks over the next week, maximum two weeks. Sell into upticks and go to cash, not all at once if you have heavy positions, but start zeroing out your holdings. Bwin.party has been trending up over 30% since its bottom in August. Ladbrokes is up 6.5% since the start of the year. William Hill is up close to 5%. Paddy Power is up 30% over the last 6 months. Betfair is in a continuing monster uptrend. Regardless of where you entered, if you’re up or down, all these stocks are in some kind of uptrend, whether short term or longer term. There is about to be at least a countertrend dip in the best case scenario, regardless of fundamentals.

To understand what Varoufakis wants to do, I encourage you to listen to this interview he had back in 2012, before he was ever on the political scene. Also take note of the way he talks. It is not politician-talk. He does not want any more bailouts, he has said he will not accept any more Troika funds, and he actually carries his resignation letter in his inside pocket. In his words, from his blog:

Software development company BetConstruct appointed Vahe Baloulian as the new Chief Executive Officer, taking over the responsibilities from company’s former CEO Suren Khachatryan.

Baloulian has begun his terms as CEO of BetConstruct in January. He previously had consulted by BetConstruct on corporate and managerial strategy through independent igaming consultancy eGaming Partners Inc.

BetConstruct’s new CEO will work between the company’s London, Yerevan (Armenia) and new Los Angeles offices, as the technology provider expands its B2B services and competencies throughout the igaming market.

“BetConstruct is a game changer in this industry, I have been working with the company for the last four years as an executive consultant and I am thrilled to join their talented team of people who are bent on making sure that gaming industry continues to innovate and thrive,” said Baloulian.

Baloulian, with more than 15 years of experience in igaming operational management specializing in strategic product development, held senior management roles at 888.com from 1998 to 2004, Red Planet Gaming as a CEO from 2006 to 2011 and California Poker Network CEO from 2009 to 2011.

Meanwhile, Group Operations Director Ian Chuter leaves UK-listed online gaming operator Betfair next week, after more than three years of service.

Chuter led Betfair’s global customer operation team, including fraud, payments, trading, telephone betting, and market operations.

The FIFA presidency is up for grabs on May 29, 2015, and now, three candidates have been officially announced to challenge incumbent president Sepp Blatter for the highest and most important position in all of football.

The three candidates are former Portugal international Luis Figo, Dutch FA president Michael van Praag, and Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan. The three were deemed eligible to run for the presidency after their respective bids met the requirements set by the sport’s governing body.

Conspicuous by his absence is former Newcastle United player David Ginola, who made news earlier this month when Irish bookmaker Paddy Power launched a (somewhat) serious campaign to champion Ginola’s attempt to become FIFA president. His inclusion isn’t actually surprising since many believed that he was nothing more than a nuisance candidate put in place to give Paddy Power more mainstream news coverage. On that end, the stunt ended up becoming a huge success so it’s not like Paddy Power is sweating over Ginola’s failed bid.

In any case, Blatter remains the odds-on favorite to win the presidency. Should he do so – he’s a 1/6 favorite – it would become his fifth term as the governing body’s president, extending a run as president that began in 1998. Blatter’s tenure has often times attracted controversy from all sectors of the sport, but the other three candidates appear to be in for a tough task unseating the incumbent this time around.

Former FIFA executive Jerome Champagne was originally touted as the most serious threat to Blatter’s throne, but the Frenchman announced his withdrawal from the race after receiving only three of five required nominations from football associations. With him out of the running, Figo is now considered as Blatter’s closest rival, although his odds fall somewhere in the 12/1 to 16/1 range. Those are still better odds than the ones van Praag and Al-Hussein have, both of whom are around the 20/1 to 25/1 range to topple Blatter’s presidential bid.

If the three candidates have any chance of beating Blatter, they’re going to have to do to their homework and get some votes in Asia, Africa, and South America. The three regions are widely considered Blatt territories and it’s entirely within reason that the current FIFA president could end up sweeping all available votes from associations in those areas.

Figo, van Praag, and Al-Hussein have to do that, and then fight to receive the backing of UEFA, which has 53 of the 209 available votes. These are tasks that are far easier said than done, which is why most see Blatter winning this vote handily and continuing his reign as FIFA president.

Billionaires Lawrence Ho and James Packer promised to bring a world-class integrated resort and casino to the Philippines that would rival any of its kind in the world. On Monday, February 2, 2015, the two men, together with their local partner the SM Group, finally brought that promise to life.

City of Dreams Manila ushers in a new era of gaming and entertainment in PAGCOR’s Entertainment City complex. City of Dreams Manila joins Bloomberry Resorts’ Solaire Hotel and Casino as the first two of the four IRs planned for the area.

As expected, Ho and Packer led the opening festivities, offering Filipinos a brief look at the two foreign casino titans sitting (and standing) side-by-side. During the press conference, Ho divulged to the gathered media that he has always had his eye on Manila as the next logical expansion for Melco Crown, which he and Packer co-own.

“Our vision was always to find greatest locations in Asia for integrated resorts. We’ve been very selective,” Ho said, almost sheepishly. “After Macau, Manila is really the first place we decided to go into.”

Meanwhile, Packer cut a far different aura to Filipinos, many of whom have only seen the man on the Internet. The imposing Packer stood proud and tall, befitting his almost 6’6” stature, but his intimidating aura was immediately stripped of when he offered his thoughts on the resort.

The Australian billionaire said that he hadn’t been as hands-on on the development process as Ho. So like most people, he was blown away by how the resort turned out, admitting that the “property has exceeded my highest expectations.”

“I can see tourism growing hugely in the Philippines. I think you do have more fun in the Philippines,” Packer added to the amusement of the media who couldn’t help but notice the billionaire’s reference to a recent ad campaign by the country’s Department of Tourism.

iGB announced the IGBA Awards 2015 winners, following a glamorous evening held at the Chelsea Football Club in London on February 1st.

iGB Affiliate Awards have always been one of the highlights of London Affiliate Conference. A night full of surprises, with an attendance list that reads as a who’s who of the Affiliate industry. Hosted by the comedian Tom Stade and THePETEBOX, a beatbox artist from the UK opening the event, the best affiliates in iGaming industry gather as one to join the fun and to celebrate the excellence in the iGaming Affiliate Industry.

The big winner is bet365 as it won three awards-Best Affiliate Program (Sports Betting), Best Affiliate Program (Overall), and Players Choice – Best Online Sportsbook.

Winners of Best Manager by category are bwin.party Kriton Kounelakis for Poker, Affiliate Edge Martyn Beacon for casino, Coral Connection’s Anthony Hodgetts for Sports Betting, Quick Think Affiliates’s Gavin Walters for Bingo, Plus500 Nadav Shilo (Financial) and Redbet.com Marius Filip as Best Affiliate Manager (Overall).

“This means a lot. We put down a lot of work. I think this is our third in a row. We are happy, proud and thanks everyone for voting. It has been amazing!” said Bingoport.com winner of Best Bingo Affiliate to CalvinAyre.com.

“This is the first year we’ve been here. We won this award now three times in a row and we are lucky enough to be here to accept the award. So we’re just happy about that,” said PokerNews.com winner of Best Poker Affiliate.

“We have been shortlisted for the Best Sportsbook Affiliate for six to seven years, finally something to take home. Obviously we did not see it coming for the mobile. It’s quite nice and it’s happy for everyone,” said Flashscore.com (Best Mobile Affiliate)

Sports bettors wagered just under $116m on the Super Bowl with Nevada sportsbooks, falling just short of 2014’s record $119.4m haul. Nevada Gaming Control Board chairman A.G. Burnett reported that unaudited figures put the state’s 191 licensed sportsbooks’ net win at $3.26m, representing a 2.8% hold, the lowest figure since the 0.8% win from Green Bay’s defeat of Pittsburgh in 2011. This year’s win was also a fraction of last year’s record $19.7m payday.

Most books reported losing money on the game itself while making their bones off prop wagers. The results would have been much different had Seattle not opted for that ill-advised pass from the one-yard line. MGM Resorts International VP of Race & Sports Jay Rood told Bloomberg that Malcolm Butler’s interception caused a “significant seven-figure swing” for the casino’s sportsbook.

William Hill US director of trading Nick Bogdonovich echoed these sentiments, saying the firm “got killed on the game itself” but eked out “the smallest of profits” via futures and props. Wynn Resorts Race and Sports Book director Johnny Avello told KTNV his book lost money on the game but “counting the props and everything, it wasn’t a disaster.”

Jay Kornegay, exec director of the Westgate Las Vegas Sportsbook said the offside call against Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett that brought the ball from the goal to the five-yard line following Butler’s interception was “probably the best encroachment in the history of football.” Bets on a safety were among the most popular prop wagers taken on this year’s game.

GTECH TAKING MGM MOBILE

In related news, Italian gaming technology firm GTECH has inked its first digital sports betting deal in the US with MGM Resorts. The deal will see GTECH subsidiary GTECH Interactive UK provide enhanced sports betting technology at 12 MGM properties in Nevada and GTECH’s OnPremise mobile sports betting and casino gaming technology at 10 MGM properties. The companies plan a phased deployment of the technology starting in Q3 2015.

MGM senior biz-dev VP Thomas Mikulich said GTECH was selected due to its “end-to-end experience, expertise and technological innovation.” The technology will allow MGM sports bettors to wager “seamlessly across multiple gaming channels” while OnPremise will allow guests at 10 MGM properties to enjoy mobile slots and table games “whether they’re at a sportsbook, slot floor, restaurant or poolside.”

Official figures show that Macau casino gross gaming revenue fell for an eight straight month in January.

According to the data released by the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) on Monday, Macau casino revenue fell by 17.4% year-on-year in January to MOP23.75 billion (US$2.97 billion), following the 30.4% year-on-year decline in December.

The number of Macau-registered junket operators also dropped 16% in January to 183 compared to 217 in the same period last year.

Rating agency Standard & Poors said the sector will experience further drops in revenue in the short term, but the situation can be reversed if operators broaden their customer base to focus on China’s growing middle class and non-gaming holiday-makers.

“We still view the long-term growth drivers for the gaming sector in Macau as good. Demand should remain firm, thanks to China’s healthy economic growth and its growing middle-class, said Joe Poon, Standard & Poors’s analyst, in a report.

Meanwhile, casino services and property firm Macau Legend Development Ltd. announced that the company has received all the necessary permits from the Macau government to open its Harbourview Hotel.

The 444-room hotel does not have any gaming but the facility is connected to the firm’s Babylon Casino by a bridge. The company had previously announced that it had been granted 35 additional gaming tables which will be deployed at the Babylon Casino and  Pharaoh’s Palace Casino.