Casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) in Macau rose 1.7 percent year-on-year in April, to MOP18.86 billion (US$2.36 billion), according to data released on Thursday by the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
The April result was down 4.1 percent compared to March’s nearly MOP19.66 billion, which had represented year-on-year growth of only 0.8 percent.
The latest monthly data took the aggregate GGR so far this year to MOP76.51 billion, up 0.8 percent on the same period in 2024.
According to brokerage JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd, the April tally implied a “daily run-rate of MOP629 million a day … despite being a seasonally soft month, showing resiliency against macro uncertainty, and all the noise around money exchange crackdown, etc.”
“By segment, this implies VIP/mass is running at low/mid 20 percent and 110-percent-plus of pre-Covid-19 levels to be within the range over the past fourth quarters,” said analysts DS Kim and Selina Li.
Vitaly Umansky, senior analyst at Seaport Research Partners, wrote in a Thursday note that the April GGR tally was “better than expected,” as the month ended “strongly”.
“We conservatively estimate May GGR to be minus 1.7 percent year-on-year, plus 5.2 percent month-on-month,” he stated.
“Based on the better than expected April result and in light of what could be stronger May Golden Week, our May estimate may be conservative,” added Mr Umansky.
CreditSights Inc said in an April 25 memo, that despite Macau’s GGR in the opening quarter being “behind pace” on the local government’s goal, there was “a path for total GGR to reach Macau’s 2025 target” of MOP240 billion. That was via growth in Macau tourism arrivals offsetting recent softening in GGR.
Macau’s tourism boss Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said in recent comments that the city might receive as many as 140,000 visitors daily, during holidays surrounding Labour Day on May 1.
Macau received a total of 176.921 visitors on Thursday (May 1), the first day of the five-day mainland China holiday period, according to official data.
China’s State Council has designated this year’s Labour Day holidays on the mainland – Macau’s main feeder market – as May 1 to May 5 inclusive. Some commentators refer to the holiday period, as ‘May Golden Week’.
