Macau casino revenues decline 33% in September

MACAU - Macau casino industry suffered through its 16th straight monthly revenue decline during September and the market's eighth straight month of drops of more than 30%.

Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau said Thursday the region's 36 large and small casinos collected $2.1 billion in gaming revenue in September, a decline of 33%.

The market has been in a free fall for nearly a year-and-a-half over a sinking Chinese economy and a mainland China government crackdown on corruption that has ensnared several of the high-end junket operators tasked with bring big spending gamblers to Macau's casinos.

"September results were broadly in line with expectations as a better start to the month was quickly erased by the seasonal, and softer this year, pre-Golden Week malaise at month end," Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Carlo Santarelli told investors. "While the September result is the smallest level of decline since January, one would be hard pressed to call it encouraging."

Through September, Macau gaming revenue is down 36% over the same nine months of 2014. Macau, the world's largest gaming market by revenue, produced a record $45.2 billion in gaming totals in 2013. The figure fell 2.6% in 2014.