The chips are still down for struggling gaming giant Genting

Bad debts declined at the cost of market share.

The odds are still stacked against gaming giant Genting despite its efforts to rein in bad debts and boost its mass market presence.

DBS analysts note that Genting was able to trim bad debts in the second quarter by throttling credit grants to VIP players. This move came at a high price, however: the group's rolling chip volume fell by a severe 36%, while VIP win rate hovered at a mere 2.1%. As a result, Genting's overall gaming revenue plunged 28% to $428.3m.

"With a slowing VIP market due to anti corruption crackdown in China, GENS is scaling back its VIP business. A large proportion of the GENS’ VIP customers originate from China. A slowdown in economic growth in China as well as the anti corruption drive by the Chinese government has led to a slowdown in VIP volumes," the report said.

Although Genting is pinning its hopes on the mass market segment, DBS warned that weakening regional currencies are likely to thwart the group's plans.

“A strong SGD versus regional currencies such as CNY, IDR and MYR may deter tourists to Singapore and in turn impact visitors to GENS’ theme parks and casino. In light of heightened credit risks and significant FX volality potentially affecting visitor numbers from Malaysia and Indonesia, we see limited catalysts for the stock near term,” DBS said.