Check out how Hong Kong's casino firms fared in revenue game

August was the second best month this year.

According to Barclays, the August gross gaming revenue (GGR) was HK$29.845bn, which made August the second best month on record after March this year (HK$30.426bn). 

The August GGR was +4.5% m/m and +17.6% y/y. Revenue growth would have been stronger if not for the lower VIP hold rate seen in August.

Barclays outlined operator performances.

Here's more:

Sands China saw continued strength in its market share, and we continue to believe Sands China should see the strongest earnings growth with the continued ramping up of its Sands Cotai Central and the strength at the Venetian.

Its mass revenue share advanced further to 30.7% in August, up from 29.4% in July and 29.8% for 2Q13. Its slot revenue share also further gained to 33.2% in August compared with 30.4% in July and 30.1% in 2Q13.

MGM saw its August mass gaming revenue share rebound slightly to 6.9% vs. 6.6% for July but still lower than 7.7% for 2Q13. Its mass revenue share, however, declined to 6.3% in August vs. 7.7% in July and 7.1% in 2Q13. 

Melco also regained market share as its higher hold rate partially helped. Its VIP revenue share rebounded to 14.5% in August vs. 12.8% in July, but we note that its hold rate was higher at 3.71% in August vs. 3.27% in July. 

Its mass revenue share gained, however, to 14.1% in August vs. 13.5% in July and 13.2% in 2Q13.

Galaxy lost market share in August across both the VIP and mass market segments and was impacted by a lower hold rate.

Its VIP volume share dropped slightly to 20.1% from the very strong 22.0% in July and was more similar to 19.9% for 2Q13.

As there was a lower hold rate of 2.77% for August vs. 3.20% for July, its VIP revenue share drop was even worse at 18.1% for August vs. 22.0% for July.

SJM saw better volume share in August, but it was negatively impacted by its lower hold rate.

Its VIP volume share stayed at 28.2% in August, similar to 28.1% in July but gained from 26.9% in 2Q13. However, its hold rate was at 2.56% in August, which was lower than 2.77% in July.