First-quarter gross gaming revenue (GGR) for Macau slot machines and for live-dealer sic bo tables respectively recovered to above 86 percent of first-quarter 2019 pre-pandemic level, show market-split data from the city’s casino regulator released on Tuesday and reviewed by GGRAsia. Live multi-game first-quarter GGR rebounded to 143.5 percent of the same trading period in 2019.
First-quarter 2024 slot machine GGR – i.e., exclusive of live multi-game GGR – stood at nearly MOP3.22 billion (US$398.9 million). That was 86.3 percent of first-quarter 2019’s nearly MOP3.73-billion.
In the first three months of this year, Macau had 12,000 slot machines in the market, reflecting the government’s cap on such inventory under the 10-year gaming concessions that started in 2023. In the first quarter 2019, the Macau market had 17,122 slot machines.
Live-dealer sic bo GGR for first-quarter 2024 was just over MOP2.03 billion, which was 86.7 percent of first-quarter 2019’s nearly MOP2.35 billion.
The most popular Macau gaming catergory – mass-market live-dealer baccarat – saw its revenue rise 68.7 percent year-on-year to MOP34.59 billion in this year’s first quarter. The figure represented about 115.7 percent of the first-quarter 2019 result.
First-quarter 2024 slot machine GGR was nearly 7.5 percent of Macau’s overall mass GGR of just under MOP42.95 billion in the period, according to the data from city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
The first-quarter gaming machine GGR tally marked a year-on-year increase of 31.5 percent, and was up 8.39 percent sequentially on fourth-quarter 2023.
Live-dealer sic-bo GGR in the first quarter of this year was 67.4 percent higher than a year ago, and 6.72 percent more than the final quarter of 2023.
Live multi-game (LMG) was the third largest non-baccarat contributor to mass GGR in the January to March period this year.
Live multi-game quarterly GGR was MOP954 million, up 97.9 percent year-on-year, and up 5.3 percent from the fourth quarter in 2023. The GGR from this game genre in the first quarter was 143.5 percent of the MOP665 million achieved in the first three months of 2019.
