Macau gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the first seven days of May is estimated at MOP4.5 billion (US$556.7 million), says brokerage JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd, citing its own checks.
That would imply a daily run-rate of MOP640 million-plus, which would be “well above” the MOP490 million per day achieved in April, “let alone MOP385 million” daily in the first quarter this year, stated a Monday memo from analysts DS Kim and Mufan Shi.
The pair said the Macau GGR numbers were “looking great, despite frustratingly weak stock momentum”.
That was a reference to a recent retreat for the stock prices of Macau’s gaming concessionaires.
The first three days of May were part of a five-day break on the Chinese mainland that began on April 29 and encompassed Labour Day on May 1.
During the May portion of the holiday period, JP Morgan estimates daily casino GGR was as high as MOP900 million, down to about half that, in the other four days to May 7.
Overall, this indicated that demand for mass-market gambling had “recovered to at least 90 percent-plus of pre-Covid levels, if not 100 percent-plus” during the holiday, according to the institution’s estimates, which was “much higher than 65 percent recovery” in the first quarter, said the JP Morgan analysts.
