Macau insulated from Trump’s anti-China rhetoric

Despite U.S. President elect Donald Trump’s anti-China rhetoric, a Union Gaming analyst believe that Macau’s gaming industry will remain unscathed.

Union Gaming analyst John Decree believes that Trump’s anti-China sentiment will not have dire consequences on the Western gaming industry’s relationship with the Chinese government. He sees the Trump administration to be a net neutral toward Macau’s gaming investors.

“Generally the relationship between the gaming industry and Macau is pretty insulated from China’s broader market, so even if there are escalating tensions, the casinos in the region probably won’t be affected,” Decree said in an interview with TheStreet.

Big western casino operators like Wynn Resorts and Las Vegas Sands have invested heavily in the former Portuguese enclave for the past few decades to make it Asia’s premier gaming hub. The era of high rollers in Macau ended after Chinese President Xi Jingping launched a corruption crackdown in 2015.