Macau gambling industry: current challenges and opportunities next decade

Purpose – The viewpoints from industry briefly review the success in last decade, analyze what challenges and difficulties came across currently and forecast opportunities/development in next decade of Macau gambling industry. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Practitioners from banking and gambling industries offered their cutting-edged analysis and viewpoints with scholars’ observation. Findings – Macroeconomic and political factors in China are the principal direct cause of Macau’s gambling revenue decline in 2014, implicating the vulnerability and unsustainability associated with the VIP business model of gambling industry. Although Macau continues to face challenges since late 2014, the prospect of Macau gambling industry is still optimistic in the long term, as there are emerging positive catalysts which will boost demand. From casino operators’ perspective, they should continue to try to increase revenue from mass market and non-gambling business by relocating the resource and adding more non-gambling amenities. Originality/value – This paper provides a fresh perspective, and a new line of thinking with regard to how gambling industry in Macau will develop in next decade since 2015. It therefore potentially directs a new path of research in the area.