The gaming exchange traded fund rolled a snake eyes Friday as Las Vegas Sands Corp (NYSE: LVS) reforms the way it does business in Macau to meet compliance rules.
The Market Vectors Gaming ETF (NYSEArca: BJK) was down 0.7% Friday. BJK declined 3.8% over the past month and is down 1.8% year-to-date.
Las Vegas Sands’ Chinese unit is putting Macau junket operators, those who bring wealthy gamblers from mainland China, under the microscope as the company tries to screen against money laundering and other wrongdoing, Bloomberg reports.
Junket operators, who account for two-thirds of betting in Macau, lend to Chinese players who are limited on how much money they can bring over from the mainland, and the operators collect gambling debt. [Gambling ETF Cools Off]
The changes could diminish the number of junket operators working with Sands and potentially push away high rollers
“It is political, it is also financial,” I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School, said in the article.
Shares of Sands China declined 1.1% Friday, the largest fall in a week, while the Parent Las Vegas Sands plunged 3.2%.
Revenue growth from VIPs slowed in the first quarter to 12.5% from 18.3% in the fourth quarter, and Wells Fargo believes the VIP segment will continue to slow, reports Shuli Ren for Barron’s.