The spending appetite of Macau’s VIP gaming patrons, as seen during this year’s Chinese New Year (CNY) Golden Week holiday season, has declined, with a notable reduction in the number of players previously considered “top-tier”. That is according to veteran junket promoter U Io Hung, in comments to GGRAsia.
“The number of clients that were ready to have HKD10 million [US$1.28 million] buy-ins was visibly fewer” for this year’s lunar new year holiday, compared to the same holiday season last year, said Mr U, explaining what he observed from his own business operations.
He added: “On average, the [VIP] clients’ buy-ins were around HKD1 million. But overall, while the patron volume was more or less like last year [holiday season], they were betting less.”
According to brokerage Citi, Macau’s casino industry produced a “disappointing CNY GGR [gross gaming revenue] print” this year. Seaport Research Partners also stated that GGR for the holiday was “softer than originally forecast,” standing at MOP780 million (US$97.3 million) in average daily GGR for the period from January 28 to February 4, with an aggregate of approximately MOP6.24 billion.
January 31, a Friday, to February 2, a Sunday, was the “peak” time for those of his VIP patrons that had booked their play in Macau for the holiday season, Mr U noted.
The lunar calendar-based Chinese New Year holiday was designated on the mainland to run from January 28 – which was lunar new year’s eve – to February 4 this year. In 2024, the Chinese New Year holiday lasted from February 10 – the actual first day of lunar new year – to February 17.
The VIP clients’ lacklustre appetite for gambling spending in the latest holiday season had been anticipated by the junket sector, said Mr U, who also heads the Macau Gaming Promoter Professionals Association.
“We were prepared to see this… what we understood from our clients before [the holiday] was that the weak Chinese economy has really eaten into their own businesses. Of course, the depreciation of Chinese yuan,” the mainland’s currency, “also does not help,” suggested Mr U.
The veteran junket boss added: “Just as [with] other consumer segments, gaming will not be exempted from [the impact of] China’s economic performance.”
