Macau growth hits the buffers The latest data from Macau confirm that the period of exponential growth in the world's largest gaming market is over, just as two Las Vegas-based casino moguls are investing billions of US dollars into new properties in the Chinese city. In June gaming revenue grew 12.2 per cent from a year ago, official data showed on Monday, which was slower than the 15 per cent growth expected by most analysts. This followed 7 per cent growth in May - the first time revenue grew at a single-digit rate since the global financial crisis - and the 22-35 per cent growth earlier in the year. IN Travel & Leisure June's figure was distorted by a typhoon which made travelling difficult last weekend, but the general trend could fuel rumours that new restrictions had been imposed on mainland visitors, said Grant Govertsen, managing partner of gaming consultancy Union Gaming Research Macau. Last Tuesday Macau gaming stocks listed in Hong Kong fell as much as 6 per cent on a day when the Hang Seng index closed higher, because a local newspaper in Macau reported that new rules meant that mainland Chinese citizens, who made up more than half of total visitors to Macau last year, could visit less frequently. The same paper also claimed that Unionpay, China's only bank card issuer, had reduced the daily overseas transaction limit. Unionpay did not respond to a request for clarification. The stocks recovered after the Macau government said it had no knowledge of any change in China's visa restrictions, but the one-day sell-off was a reminder that Macau is at the mercy of Beijing's favourable policies. In June 2008 China suddenly decided to stop issuing double-entry visas to individual tourists going to Macau. Sands China, the Macau arm of Las Vegas Sands, and Galaxy Entertainment Group, controlled by Hong Kong's Lui family, had to suspend construction of their new properties until after the visa restrictions were lifted in late 2009 because of a liquidity squeeze. Analysts had predicted a slowdown since last year, largely because of a softer macroeconomic environment in mainland China and the sheer size of Macau's casino market - which grew 42 per cent in 2011 to reach $34bn, or five times bigger than the Las Vegas Strip. Most analysts said Wynn Macau and Sands China would be able to weather an expected slowdown which could see total gaming revenue grow just 15 per cent this year, and keep building. Wynn Macau recently announced a $4bn casino in Macau's Cotai strip and Sands China is completing its $4.4bn investment in a partially-opened project called Sands Cotai Central, which would single-handedly raised Macau's available hotel rooms by 25 per cent when fully opened next year. "Their existing properties are generating enough free cash flow for them to take on more risk, unlike in 2008, when they were just developers," said Grant Chum, gaming analyst at UBS. Based on estimates by Fitch Ratings, Wynn Macau, which is preparing to issue a $1.5bn senior secured credit facility to help finance its Cotai property, is currently generating annual free cash flow of around $1bn and has excess cash of more than $400m.