Macau Casino Revenue Higher by Just 5.7% in February
March 2, 2018 12:16 pmMacau’s casino market saw its gross gaming revenue rise by 5.7% to US$3.01 billion in February, according to the latest information released by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
While that figure represents its slowest growth rate since January 2017, on the plus side, February’s result now marks 19th straight month of year-on-year gains for Macau. It also follows a huge 36.4% revenue spike in January, which was its biggest increase since February 2014, and as a result, Macau’s casino market is currently higher by 19.7% for the year so far.
Nevertheless, analysts had been forecasting a rise of between 7-12% for last month, especially considering the Chinese New Year holiday which fell on the 16th, and the new $3.45 billion MGM Cotai integrated casino resort complete with 1,390 rooms which opened for business earlier in the month. As MGM chief executive James Murren commented about the casino hotel’s opening:
“I believe we have created a resort that exactly targets the market that’s the fastest growing today – the upper-end mass market.”
However, it now appears that the high-rolling gamblers who usually visit Macau’s casinos are becoming increasingly keen to avoid the influx of families and tourists who tend to flood the island resort during holiday periods. Furthermore, the Chinese Holiday’s first weekend proved far busier than the following weekend, and as Grant Govertsen of Union Gaming Securities Asia Ltd, explained:
“Clearly there was a rather sharp drop-off in GGR as the Chinese New Year holiday came to a close, with the holiday period seemingly front-end loaded. We expect low/mid-teens growth in March, suggesting total first quarter 2018 growth of around 18 percent. The March calendar is favorable with one additional Saturday relative to last year.”
Looking even further ahead, Morgan Stanley analyst Praveen Choudhary has predicted Macau’s gross gaming revenue to reach $60 billion by 2022, due to an increase in Chinese visitors from the country’s lower tier cities, as well as a rise in overall visitor spending. A number of major infrastructure development programs are also expected to boosts Macau’s economy further, including the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge which is scheduled to be completed this year, and connect the three major cities mentioned which are situated along the Pearl River Delta.