During the first month of 2024, the gaming industry in Macau continued to grow in terms of accumulated profits, with gross gaming profit (GGR) reaching MOP19.3bln, which is approximately US$2.4bln. Additionally, this GGR represents 77% of the MOP24.9bln, which is approximately US$3bln, revealed in the first month of 2019, two months prior to the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The series of post-COVID records continues:
In compliance with information unveiled by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), aka the local regulator, January’s number saw a 67% growth compared to January of the former year. In addition, the aforementioned GGR also represents the increase of 4% from last month’s GGR of MOP18.5bln, which is approximately US$2.3bln.
However, just 1 month in the previous year exceeded the stated January results. That month is October, which involved the National Day holiday week and which GGR was MOP19.5 billion, which is roughly US$2.4bln.
During the entire previous year, Macau’s casino GGR came to MOP183.05 billion, which is approximately US$22.68bln, showing a growth of 333.8% from the same period in 2022.
Morgan Stanley forecast:
Morgan Stanley has officially predicted that gross gaming income from Macau’s mass market will exceed 120% of the levels prior to the pandemic by the end of this year, likely driving EBITDA figures to come to the levels of 2019.
Furthermore, the previous year represented a renewal for Macau, which means that it emerged from the envelope of COVID-19 and connected regulations that managed to shut down the entire city for a period of 3 years. In addition, the same year marked the 1st year of fresh gaming licenses for 6 concessionaires, which means that operators accustomed to to the newest surroundings that entails avoided junkets, moved to a mass market model with the main goal of luring additional foreign players, according to Asia Gaming Brief.
Relatedly, the aforementioned January data exceeded the expectations of the Macau government. In this sense, during December, SAR’s Chief Executive pointed out his projection of MOP180 billion, which is approximately US$22.4bln, some MOP50bln, which is approximately $6.22bln, higher than the government formerly projected.
According to the latest gaming licenses, if yearly GGR in Macau come to or exceeds MOP180bln, the aforementioned 6 concessionaires will have to raise their MOP109bln, which is roughly $13.48bln, non-gaming spending by a maximum of 20%. But, the SAR’s Chief Executive was restrained about revealing the necessary operator requirements as soon as the threshold is crossed.
Macau’s Mass Table Segment Reached 75% Market Share in Q4 2023:
In other news, since Macau’s casino facilities restarted operations in January 2023, the mass table market has seen steady growth and accounted for 75.2% of total table revenue in Q4 2023. The figure reportedly rose from a share of 74.4% held in the previous quarter.