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Crown Resorts in Australia dropped as much as 8 percent in trading Thursday as a crackdown on gambling continues with a shock move announced heading into the weekend.
The Chinese government says it will begin imposing a 50 percent cut on Unionpay ATM withdrawal limits in within the gambling enclave of Macau. The cap is set to take affect on Saturday.
Wynn, MGM and Las Vegas Sands Corp all have exposure in Macau and each witnessed declines in their respective share prices.
China recently arrested several Crown Resort employees including a high ranking executive as it continues to “clean up” the country’s lucrative gambling industry.
Almost a million Chinese tourists visited the former Portuguese enclave in the first seven days of October for Golden Week, the most in at least a decade.
"The controls they have put into place are consistent with the controls they have put into place in the past," MGM Resorts International Chief Executive Officer Jim Murren said in an interview on CNBC. "I don't want to minimise the significance - it will reduce some revenue - but the long-term play is an extremely positive story."
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
