Holding all the aces: Gaming revenue in Singapore to reach double-digit growth

This is helped by limited competition, says Moody's.

For Singapore, Moody's expects gaming revenue to grow in the double-digits over the next 12 to 18 months, helped by limited competition and a favorable outlook for the macro-economic environment in Southeast Asia as well as Singapore.

Moody’s noted however that while the development of new casinos and resorts in Singapore lure some of the customers of Genting's Resorts World Malaysia, this is not expected to materially cannibalize the casino’s performance, given its monopoly operation in Malaysia.

The outlook for the Asia-Pacific gaming sector is stable with a positive bias. Moody's said it could change Asia Pacific's gaming sector outlook to positive from stable if: 1) gaming revenues in two or more major gaming centers -- Macau, Singapore and Australia -- register growth exceeding 20%-25% on-year on a sustained basis, and 2) gaming operators maintain their profitability without a major increase in exposure to business volatility.

Meanwhile the sector's outlook could be changed to negative if: 1) the gaming sectors experience consecutive declines in monthly and quarterly gaming revenues due to weak macro-economic factors, 2) local or regional competition increases and leads to a material decline in the gaming operators' profitability, and 3) the gaming operators re-commission fast debt-funded expansion, thereby dramatically weakening their financial and liquidity profiles.