Macau's Neighbors Face Visa Restrictions, Casinos Tumble

• By the tickerspy.com Staff
• On 12:59 pm EDT, Thursday October 15, 2009

Expansions in Macau have been a major focus of the Casino sector.

According to The Wall Street Journal, residents of China's Guangdong province are now eligible to receive a visa to visit Macau only once every two months. Before October 1, visas were permitted once a month, and the new traffic limitation could weigh on the performance of Asia's Las Vegas.

According to comments from Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ: WYNN - News) chairman and CEO Steve Wynn, the Macau casinos are still better off than they were last September. Wynn, said The Journal, told reporters last month that the once-a-month visas were an improvement over the prior once every three months policy.

As a whole, the Casino Stocks Index is off by -2.7% today. It is now underperforming the S&P 500 by -10% over the last month.

Melco Crown Entertainment (NASDAQ: MPEL - News) and Empire Resorts (NASDAQ: NYNY - News) are leading the sector lower by more than -6% in the sell-off.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS - News), Wynn, and MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM - News), the sector's largest U.S.-listed players, are all down by -3% or more.

Over the last week the sector's performance has been widely mixed. Top winners, Empire Resorts and Ameristar Casinos (NASDAQ: ASCA - News) have added double-digit gains, while Wynn and Melcro Crown have lost -9% and -15% respectively.

Over the last month, Pinnacle Entertainment (NYSE: PNK - News) is a top performer, up over 10%. Riviera Holdings (OTC: RVHL - News), which trades on the pink sheets, is ahead by 35% for the period.

As of this writing, the Casino Stocks Index is one of the 10 worst-performing tickerspy Indexes over the last month, down by -7%.

Investors looking for a peripheral play on the gambling sector can look to tickerspy's Gaming and Slot-Machine Stocks Index, where five of six components have appreciated over the last week.

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