VIP baccarat generated revenue of just under MOP14.38 billion (US$1.78 billion) in Macau in the first quarter of 2024, accounting for a 25.1-percent share of the nearly MOP57.33-billion gross gaming revenue (GGR) in the period. That is according to data released on Tuesday by the city’s casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
First-quarter revenue in the VIP segment rose by 13.2 percent quarter-on-quarter, and was up 67.9 percent from the prior-year period.
In the three months to March 31, revenue from mass-market baccarat stood at nearly MOP34.59 billion, up 3.1 percent sequentially, representing circa 60.3 percent of market share.
Mass-market baccarat revenue was up 68.7 percent from a year earlier, and represented about 115.7 percent of the first-quarter 2019 result, a period during the last trading year before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Slot machine revenue was nearly MOP3.2 billion, a market share of circa 5.6 percent. It was up 8.4 percent quarter-on-quarter, and rose 31.5 percent from a year ago.
Aggregate revenue in the overall mass-market segment – including slot machines – stood at just under MOP42.95 billion, accounting for 74.9-percent share of Macau’s casino GGR in the January to March period.
The latest overall mass-market GGR quarterly result represented 110.3 percent of the MOP38.94 billion achieved in the comparable period of 2019.
Earlier this month, banking group Morgan Stanley said it expects Macau casino industry corporate earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to rise 5 percent collectively in the first quarter of this year compared to the final three months of 2023.
The institution said it expected Macau’s gaming industry first-quarter EBITDA to be just under US$1.95 billion, reaching circa 81 percent of 2019 levels.
