中国反腐运动冲击波及澳门赌场业务
China's intensifying crackdown on corruption is keeping the country's wealthy away from casinos, as the below charts show.
数据显示，随着中国反腐力度加大，富裕人群开始远离赌场。It has long been understood that Chinese government officials in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a baccarat u, a former Portuguese enclave near Hong Kong that became the world's largest gaming market, can obviously ascribe much of its growth to the Chinese love of gambling.
曾是葡萄牙殖民地、靠近香港的澳门已是全球最大博彩市场，这在很大程度上归功于中国人对赌博的喜好。一直以来，人们都相信，那些拥有大量财富的政府官员们都想到赌桌旁坐坐。
It has also been partly boosted by the Chinese VIP travel agents known as junkets, who enable gamblers to swap their Chinese renminbi - which is tightly controlled - into Macau's freely exchangeable currency. For people wanting to sequester cash offshore, Macau patacas can easily be sent into foreign bank accounts.
澳门的增长部分还应归功于被称为“中介(junket)”的一些面向中国富人的旅行社，这种旅行社能帮助赌客绕开中国严格的货币管控，将人民币换成可自由兑换的澳门货币。对于那些想将现金藏在境外的人来说，澳门元能轻而易举地发往外国银行户头。
Recent data shows that Chinese president Xi Jinping's high profile anti corruption campaign, which some say is driven by a need to destabilise his enemies within the Communist Party, has put Macau's growth into reverse.
但近期数据显示（见下图），中国国家主席习近平的高调反腐运动已让澳门增长势头出现逆转。Falling particularly sharply are revenues from the VIP segment of the market, which captures the money spent by high-rollers in the closed-off rooms casinos reserve for their biggest spenders.
跌幅尤其明显的是VIP业务的营收。VIP业务是指为坐在包间里、出手最阔绰的赌徒提供的服务。As Citi analysts led by Anil Daswani point out in a research note:“High profile arrests of senior mainland government officials such as Zhou Yong Kang have spooked VIP players.
由邓毅梁(Anil Daswani)领导的一个花旗(Citi)分析师团队在一份研究报告中指出：“包括周永康这类政府高官的落马，令众多VIP玩家感到惊慌。”“On the VIP side, the clampdown on corruption is having a sustained impact to revenues, and we see no immediate catalysts for a rebound.”
“目前，反腐运动正在对VIP部门产生持续影响，短期内我们看不到会促成反弹的因素。”
