Gaming analysts believe that Macau’s casino industry will not face much of an impact in the near term due to Donald Trump becoming the 45th President of the United States. Grant Govertsen, Union Gaming Analyst stated that Macau’s casino industry was influenced more by what happened to the Chinese economy than what happens in America.
Albano Martins, a local economist in Macau believes that fluctuations in the value of the US dollar will impact the rate of the MOP and HKD. A weakened dollar could have a positive impact on Macau in the short term as it will help to boost tourism. However it could also hurt the industry in the long term as it could turn out to be extremely inflationary since Macau hardly produces anything but relies heavily on imports.
While Trump is not expected to have much of an impact on Macau, CLSA analysts believe that the Trump victory will have a positive influence on Australian gambling operators Tabcorp, Ainsworth and Aristocrat as a result of some of the domestic policies the Trump government is expected to introduce in the near future.
In a statement, analysts at CLSA said “Trump is clearly pro-gambling, although Republican views are mixed. We may see greater liberalization of casino gambling in the US to cope with budget deficits which would be a positive for Aristocrat/Ainsworth. It’s not clear what his views are on wagering/online gaming, we would guess negative given his casino leanings, but any move to open up this market could prove a positive for Tabcorp.”
Analysts believe that the Trump victory will also not have a big impact on the land-based gambling industry in the United States. Donald Trump is believed to be a pro gambling supporter and has ties to Sheldon Adelson, the chairman and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corp who has invested in a fight to outlaw online gambling. However gaming analysts believe that while Trump could be friendlier to the gaming industry than the average Republican it is unlikely that the casino industry will receive significant benefits from the Trump victory.