Macau has seen four more junkets added to its roster of licensed gaming promoters relative to figures available in May, according to updated data published by the local casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
But the latest tally of 29, is still only 58 percent of the 50 allowed under the local government’s market-wide junket cap.
Historically, a key commercial function of licensed junkets – known under Macau regulation as “gaming promoters” – was to issue credit to VIP players and manage credit-related risk.
But a measure called the “Legal regime of credit concession for games of chance in casinos” – in effect since August 1, 2024 – stipulates that casino concessionaires are the only entities permitted to provide gambling credit to patrons in the Macau market.
Under the new arrangements, a junket can only earn commission from introducing a player to a casino operator.
A junket trade body has previously told GGRAsia that even under that system, a factor holding back the junket sector was a 5-percent withholding levy payable by junkets on such commissions casinos provide to junkets.
The Macau Gaming Promoter Professionals Association lobbied the government for relief on the withholding levy, but has had no success so far.
Macau’s VIP baccarat segment showed quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in the second quarter, according to data issued on Wednesday by the gaming bureau.
A July 9 note from Citigroup mentioned that house-managed VIP players – also known as direct VIPs – might have been a factor in the second-quarter VIP GGR uptick, supported by factors including concerts by high-profile artists. But that likely came at a cost for industry margins on earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA), said the institution.
VIP baccarat as a whole, produced GGR of MOP16.33 billion (US$2.02 billion) in the second quarter of 2025, up 13.0 percent sequentially and up 22.7 percent year-on-year.
In the April to June period, VIP baccarat accounted for about 26.7 percent of Macau’s just over MOP61.11-billion GGR for the quarter.
