Player foot traffic was mostly moderate on the main floors of Macau-peninsula and Cotai casinos on Friday, the sixth day of a nine-day Chinese New Year holiday for residents of the Chinese mainland, the consumer group that accounts for most of Macau’s tourists.
That is based on a GGRAsia tour of downtown and Cotai properties. China’s State Council has designated the festive break as running from February 15 to February 23.
GGRAsia’s review was for main floors, and high-limit areas publicly accessible either on the main floor or adjacent places. GGRAsia was not able to inspect invitation-only gaming areas of any of the properties.
At just after 11am at Grand Lisboa (lobby pictured, above), SJM Holdings Ltd’s main peninsula venue, the ground-floor baccarat zone had most live-dealer tables staffed. Minimum bets there ranged from HKD1,000 (US$128) to HKD2,000, with the lower end being the tables most-frequented by players.
On the first floor – recognised as the property’s main gaming floor – most baccarat tables were open, but with moderate player traffic. There, minimums ranged from HKD500, up to HKD2,000, though most players were to be found at HKD1,000 tables.
Half a level up, on the mezzanine floor, foot traffic was sparse for the HKD2,000 to HKD5,000-minimum high-limits baccarat offered there, notably at the Phoenix Pavilion on one end of the mezzanine. On the other side of the mezzanine level, nearest to the Crystal Tea House food and drink outlet, only one table with a HKD3,000-minimum bet size, was completely populated with players.
The second-floor main-gaming area at Grand Lisboa had live baccarat from HKD300 to HKD1,000, though traffic was moderate, and the most popular tables being at HKD500, the commonest denomination.
A side area at the second floor, had cheaper live baccarat, at HKD300 or HKD500, with most tables open, and about half of them occupied by players.
At about noon at Wynn Macau (pictured above), the downtown venue of Wynn Macau Ltd, main-floor baccarat was from HKD500 up to HKD3,000. Again, traffic was modest, and the busiest tables were at HKD500 and HKD1,000.
At the Diamond Club high-limit area, tables were at HKD2,000, HKD3,000 and HKD10,000. While all tables were open, most were at the lowest pricing. A single HKD10,000 table had three patrons.
At the property’s Encore Casino, baccarat minimum bets were HKD2,000, up to HKD10,000. The busy tables were at either HKD2,000 or HKD3,000.
At 12.20pm at MGM Macau (pictured above), the downtown venue of MGM China Holdings Ltd, the main floor was observed to have a linked jackpot for – relatively niche games in the Macau market – stud poker and three-card poker. The linked jackpot was in the manner GGRAsia recently observed at Sands China Ltd’s Cotai properties. At the time of Friday’s visit to MGM Macau, the stud poker and three-card poker jackpot stood at HKD8.67 million.
Mostly, the main floor was modestly populated, with live baccarat at HKD1,000 to HKD3,000, and the busiest being at the bottom end of the pricing range.
The high limit area had sparse patronage, with HKD3,000 baccarat tables being the best-used out of the HKD2,000 to HKD5,000 selection on offer.
At 12.43pm at StarWorld Hotel (pictured above), Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd’s Macau-peninsula casino-hotel, the main gaming floor on the first storey, traffic was moderate, with the busiest live-baccarat tables at HKD1,000, among the HKD1,000 up to HKD3,000 range.
Level three at StarWorld was quite well populated. A zone in the middle the promoter had HKD300 to HKD1,000 live-baccarat on offer, with the busiest being at either HKD500 or HKD1,000.
At level five of the property, the Horizon high-limit zone had light traffic, with minimums from HKD2,000 to HKD10,000, the most common being at HKD3,000.
In the afternoon on Friday, the city’s Cotai casinos had moderate to good foot traffic, with high-limit areas generally more lightly populated.
At 2.20pm at Galaxy Entertainment’s Galaxy Macau (pictured above), main-floor live-baccarat minimums were from HKD500, all the way to HKD5,000, with the HKD2,000 tables seeing most use.
At the property’s Pavilion North high-limit area, business was moderate, with minimum bets extended to HKD10,000. The relatively-busy tables were at either HKD3,000 or HKD5,000.
At Pavilion South, the busiest tables were at either HKD2,000 or HKD3,000. That zone also had two blackjack tables, each with HKD1,000 minimums.
At 3.20pm, The Venetian Macao property of Sands China (pictured above) had a live-table zone – next door to a Live Multi Game stadium and slot machine area – that had baccarat games at HKD800 and HKD1,000, and many tables were packed with players.
Near the Red Dragon Noodle site on the main floor, live baccarat up to HKD2,000 was far from crowded. The relatively busy tables were at HKD1,000.
Another portion of the Venetian Macao’s main floor – near to the property’s Phoenix Area – principally had baccarat at HKD1,000 and HKD2,000. It had only light traffic, with the populated tables at HKD1,000.
A high-limit zone on the main floor had moderate traffic, with the HKD3,000 tables more utilised than the HKD5,000 ones.
A poker club on the main floor, was packed with players.
From 4.05pm the two casinos at Sands China’s The Londoner Macao (pictured above) – The Londoner Grand and The Londoner Casino – had moderate traffic. The top bets at the former, were HKD3,000, while at The Londoner Casino, they extended to HKD5,000. Londoner Grand’s busiest were at either HKD1,000 or HKD2,000. At Londoner Casino, the most prevalent denominations were either HKD2,000 or HKD3,000.
At 4.30pm on Friday at City of Dreams (pictured above) – the Cotai flagship of Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd – the main floor was moderately busy. The most popular live-baccarat tables were the HKD1,500 or HKD2,000 ones.
High-limit area bets ranged from HKD3,000 to as much as HKD20,000, though the busiest tables were at the lower end of the range.
On the baccarat play zone nearest to the Grand Hyatt Macau side of the property, the circa one-dozen tables included some as low as HKD500, though most were set at either HKD1,000 or HKD1,500, and traffic was light.
At 4.56pm, MGM China’s MGM Cotai complex (pictured above) was offering on its main floor, a linked -progressive jackpot for stud poker and three-card poker. A Texas Hold’em poker zone was packed with players.
The property’s main-floor live-baccarat product was generally busy with players. Bets offered, ranged from HKD1,000 up to HKD5,000, with the most popular being HKD1,000 and HKD2,000.
High-limit areas – with tables at HKD2,000 to HKD5,000 – were overall, not busy. The most common were are HKD3,000.
By 5.17pm at Wynn Macau Ltd’s Wynn Palace (pictured above) on Cotai, the main floor had a buzz of energy, with many tables busy – especially those at either HKD1,000 or HKD2,000.
At the high-limit Diamond Club, most of the tables were busy with players, though not packed. The best-patronised were at HKD3,000.
An hour later at SJM Holdings’ Grand Lisboa Palace (pictured above), the busiest main-floor tables were at HKD1,000. The floor was moderately busy, with bets ranging from HKD500, up to HKD2,000.
A zone of lower-priced tables in front of Phoenix Pavilion – a VIP slot zone – was offering bets at HKD300, HKD500, and HKD800, and was quite popular.
Dragon Pavilion, a high-limit live-baccarat zone, featured HKD2,000 and HKD3,000 tables, and had moderate traffic.
A Texas Hold’em poker zone at the property was in use, having reopened in mid-December, according to floor staff.
