Bloomberg – Wynn Macau Ltd. fell the most in more than two years in Hong Kong trading, leading declines among operators of China’s only legal casinos, amid concern that a crackdown on illegal money transfers will pare demand.
The unit of Wynn Resorts Ltd. slumped 8.5 percent, its biggest decline since October 2011, at the close in Hong Kong trading. MGM China Holdings Ltd. (2282) dropped 8.2 percent, while Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. fell 7.6 percent.
China is cracking down on the use of hand-held card-swipers within casino resorts amid concerns that tens of billions of yuan in illicit funds are being taken out of the mainland and into Macau, the South China Morning Post reported today, citing people in the gaming and security business it didn’t identify.
“Investors are now very jittery,” Grant Govertsen, a Macau-based analyst at Union Gaming Group, said by phone today.
Macau may tighten visa rules for visitors from China, investment bank Union Gaming Group said in a May 5 report. Police in the former Portuguese colony said they had made 12 arrests involving pay card fraud cases in February and March this year, according to an e-mailed statement today.
Police said they made six arrests on Feb. 18 when six UnionPay card terminals, account books and HK$700,000 of cash were seized. On March 6, four people were detained as officers found three China UnionPay card terminals, purchase receipts and HK$920,000. Eight days later, two people were arrested as police found four payment terminal devices, 304 bank cards, authentication machines, card consumption receipts, China travel permits and more than HK$3.4 million ($438,000) in cash.
