Macau casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) rose by 1.1 percent sequentially in April, to MOP8.40 billion (US$1.05 billion), compared to just under MOP8.31 billion in March.
April GGR was up 1,014.4 percent from a year earlier, according to data issued on Saturday by the city’s casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, a body also known as DICJ. GGR in April 2020 had been heavily impacted by countermeasures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in Macau.
Aggregate casino GGR in the four months to April 30 this year stood at MOP32,04 billion, an increase of 2.6 percent from the MOP31.24 billion recorded in the prior-year period.
In the first quarter last year, the city’s casino sector had a strong performance in January, before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Macau’s casino GGR for April 2021 was the highest monthly figure since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A Monday note from brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd had said that Macau’s April daily GGR had been “steady” up to and including April 25, even as visitor volume had risen. The institution said that indicated the recovery of the Macau tourism sector has involved a “low-value customer” segment in gaming terms.
The average daily number of visitor arrivals to Macau during the Labour Day Golden Week holiday period from Saturday (May 1) to May 5 inclusive, is likely to increase by around 20 percent compared with a previous peak in April, and is therefore likely to surpass the 40,000-per-day mark. That was according to a Thursday forecast from Macau’s Public Security Police, the force responsible for managing the city’s immigration posts.
