Macao will ease reliance on casinos

The Macao Special Administrative Region slashed its monthly gambling revenue forecast 27 percent, as the city's chief executive pledged a five-year plan to make the world's largest gaming hub less dependent on casinos.

The city expects average gross monthly gaming revenue of 20 billion patacas ($2.5 billion) this year, down from an earlier estimate of 27.5 billion patacas, Chief Executive Fernando Chui said on Monday. Macao has entered an "adjustment" period of slower growth and needed to develop a broader range of attractions to draw tourists from around the world, he said.

Tim Craighead, head of Asian research at Bloomberg Intelligence, said: "We think this is pretty pessimistic, though it may be better for an official to slash things so much that they can then eventually get into positive revision mode from a low base. If they use this as a base assumption, it emphasizes the need to diversify the economy, which is already in the plans."