Digital RMB would remove Macau as a ‘blackhole’ for the Chinese economy – Analyst

The introduction of the digital RMB in the Macau SAR would allow Chinese central authorities to ‘plug’ a ‘blackhole’ that could have taken almost US$600 billion out of the country’s economy, a gaming consultant posited.

Speaking in a talk held by Britcham Macao today (Tuesday), gaming consultant and managing partner of IGamix, Ben Lee, estimated the real volume of that could have been directed to the local gaming sector in previous years.

“In 2013 Macau’s gross gaming revenue peaked at US$45 billion. It’s a pretty high amount but that’s the amount of money that was retained by the gaming industry, not the amount of cash that flowed to Macau casinos,” Lee indicated.

“We have a different metric in casinos called the ‘hold rate’. Basically, if you walk into a casino with US$100 in your pocket and you intend of gambling. With a hold rate of 20 per cent, the casino will statistically retain US$20 out of the US$100 that you brought into the casino.

Therefore the consultant considered that for the SAR to have reported US$45 billion in gaming revenue in 2013, gamblers would have to bring the equivalent to US$135 billion to the city, a number that could get as high as US$600 billion if one was to add side-betting as a multiplier in the equation.

Source: https://www.macaubusiness.com/digital-rmb-would-remove-macau-as-a-blackhole-for-the-chinese-economy-analyst/