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Macau’s casino industry is headed for its longest losing streak, facing months more of falling revenues as continued crackdowns against graft by the Chinese government prompt gamblers to tone down on extravagance.

A two-year campaign on corruption has discouraged China’s high-rollers from ostentatious displays of wealth in Macau, the only place in the country where casinos are legal. The industry could be further affected by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to Macau next month, according to Union Gaming Research analyst Grant Govertsen.

“Our current expectations of December being down 24 percent year-on-year include further disruption to the VIP segment because of Xi’s visit for the 15th anniversary celebration of the city’s handover to China, Govertsen wrote in a note yesterday. There’s ‘‘no reason” trends will improve in the first quarter of 2015, he said.

Total casino revenue in the world’s biggest gambling hub fell 23.2 percent to 28 billion patacas ($3.5 billion) in October, dropping for the fifth straight month, according to Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau yesterday.

The previous record decline was in January 2009, when casino revenue fell 17.1 percent in the aftermath of a global credit crisis. It slumped seven months straight from December 2008 to June 2009, the longest losing streak for the city.

Keep Declining

Macau’s casino gambling revenue is expected to keep declining until mid-2015, when casino operators start opening new properties, Barclays Plc analyst Phoebe Tse wrote in a note yesterday. Full-year revenue should slump by 1 percent, she said, making it the industry’s first annual decline in the city.

The former Portuguese enclave recorded the slowest annual growth in casino revenue in 2009 with a 9.7 percent gain and it hasn’t seen a yearly decline since records started in 2002.

Sands China Ltd. (1928) fell 3.3 percent to close at HK$46.80 in Hong Kong yesterday, the worst performer on the benchmark Hang Seng Index, which declined 0.3 percent. Wynn Macau Ltd. and Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. both dropped 3.4 percent, while Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. (27) lost 2.8 percent and SJM Holdings Ltd. (880) was down 2.3 percent.

Wynn Resorts (WYNN), the casino company founded by billionaire Steve Wynn, reported Oct. 28 that revenue climbed 9 percent at its two casinos on the Las Vegas strip, which helped offset a 5.6 percent drop in its Macau properties where the company gets more than two-thirds of its sales.

Men in Foxholes

“The policy of the central government in being very, very aggressive about what appeared to be a misconduct and corruption of the government has put a lot of the wealthy businessmen in the foxholes,” Wynn said in a teleconference after the results, according to a Bloomberg transcript.

“I don’t know whether it’s a squall or we’re in the rainy season or how long it will last, but we’re still very, very bullish on Macau,” the 72-year-old executive said.

Government finances won’t be hurt by falling casino tax revenue even with continued declines next year, said Macau’s Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam in a statement on the Information Bureau’s website.

The industry’s current slowdown “is in line with the authorities’ expectations,” Tam said, adding that he believes the trend “will be maintained for a longer period of time.”

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