Macao's future still anyone's to bet on

While analysts last year correctly forecast Macao casinos would suffer a first-ever revenue drop, prospects for 2015 are looking as uncertain as a coin toss.

Those surveyed by Bloomberg News were evenly split on whether revenue will shrink or grow in the world's largest gambling hub this year. Gaming revenue fell 2.6 percent in 2014, ending a golden age in which growth spiked more than eightfold over a decade and transformed Macao into a gambling center larger than the Las Vegas Strip.

But conflicting signals are muddling the outlook. While the central government's campaign against graft and extravagance is keeping high-rollers from the Baccarat tables, company steps to target mass-market tourists are making some analysts more bullish even as China's economy cools.