So said Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes in remarks to local media on the sidelines of a Thursday event.

Currently, international visitors coming via air usually enter Macau either via the city’s own air hub, Macau International Airport, or via Hong Kong International Airport, noted the tourism boss.

She added that her office would explore means to draw international visitors interested in making “multiple stops” during their trip.

Guangzhou’s airport is about 170 kilometres (105 miles) north of Macau, and circa two hours by road. The journey via high-speed train to Zhuhai, the Guangdong city next door to Macau, takes circa 55 minutes.

Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is a three-terminal facility and a long-haul passenger hub for China Southern Airlines. The airport serves destinations in Europe and Australia, as well as Asia and other Chinese-mainland cities.

Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport, about 66 kms northwest of Hong Kong, serves European destinations as well as places in Asia and domestic routes. The Shekou to Macau ferry route serves Shenzhen’s airport, and takes up to 80 minutes. The journey via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is about 106 kms and takes up to two hours.

In May, Macau received 234,150 visitors from international markets, i.e., places outside the Greater China region, according to the latest data available from the city’s Statistics and Census Service. The tally was up 0.8 percent year-on-year.

The growth in the number of international visitors from May onward had slowed compared to the first four months of 2026, noted Ms Senna Fernandes in her Thursday comments.

She said factors in the easing included “high fuel costs”, and the June start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, a major football tournament. The latter had diverted demand for tourism to Macau, she suggested.

For the first five months of this year, Macau received an aggregate of 1.24 million international visitors, up 8.8 percent year-on-year. That tally represented 6.8 percent of the city’s overall 18.14 million visitors in the January to May period, the statistics service’s data show.

The event marked the fifth consecutive year the casino operator has staged the initiative locally. The food kits will be distributed through Caritas Macau to elderly residents, low-income families and other underprivileged groups.

According to the company, this year’s event “set new records in both the number of participants and the number of food kits assembled”.

The initiative received support from Macau’s Social Welfare Bureau and Health Bureau. Participants included members of local social-service organisations, Sands Cares Ambassador volunteers, Sands China employees, and senior executives from Sands China’s parent, U.S.-based Las Vegas Sands Corp.

Patrick Dumont, chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands and chairman of Sands China, attended the event and helped assemble food kits alongside volunteers from 34 Sands China departments and community organisations.

In a statement, Mr Dumont said the initiative reflected the group’s long-term commitment to Macau, where it has operated for more than two decades.

“As the initiative marks its fifth year in Macau, and its largest edition to date, our group’s management has returned to Macau to join Sands China team members and community partners in assembling 5,000 food kits,” Mr Dumont stated.

He added: “Together with efforts across our other operating regions, this initiative will generate 51,000 food kits worldwide this year. This spirit of community service has brought us together as one family, enabling us to make an even greater impact for communities.”

The 5,000 kits assembled in Macau weigh a combined 30 tonnes and each contains 11 food items sourced from local small- and medium-sized enterprises, per the announcement.

The packages also include soup packs donated by Tung Sin Tong Charitable Society, as well as healthy recipe cards developed jointly by Caritas Macau and Sands China’s food and beverage team, with input from Macau’s Health Bureau nutritionists to promote healthy eating, Sands China stated.

Caritas Macau secretary general, Paul Pun Chi Meng, said the expanded programme would allow the organisation to assist more vulnerable residents, noting the long-running partnership with Sands China demonstrated the value of cooperation between businesses and social welfare organisations.

“This caring initiative represents not only material support but also a heartfelt expression of the community’s care for vulnerable groups,” Mr Pun said. “The long-term partnership between Sands China and Caritas highlights the value of collaboration between corporations and social welfare organisations in building a caring community.”

All food kits assembled this year will be delivered – during July and August – by Sands Cares Ambassadors to 34 Caritas Macau care homes and centres across multiple districts. 

“Caritas Macau will then distribute them to elderly residents and underprivileged groups in the community, ensuring that both food supplies and care reach those in need in Macau,” according to the release.

Launched in 2022 by Las Vegas Sands, the Sands Cares Global Food Kit Build is held annually in the regions where the group has a presence, including Macau, Singapore, and Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States.

Sands China said it has prepared nearly 17,000 food kits for the Macau community since launching the local initiative. The company added that more than 4,000 employees have joined its Sands Cares Ambassador volunteer programme since its establishment in 2009, contributing more than 362,000 hours of community service.

The training session, held in early July under the Melco SME Academy initiative, featured input from representatives of The Mekong Club, a non-profit organisation focused on combatting modern slavery, as well as guidance from the casino firm’s own sustainability team.

Topics covered included human rights, modern slavery, and sustainable products. Catherine Cheung, senior programme manager at The Mekong Club, and Hannah Chung, senior manager for sustainability at Melco Resorts, led the presentations, according to a recent press release.

Melco Resorts said the event also featured a business networking session. It was to help participating SMEs better understand the casino operator’s procurement requirements, products and services – and for Melco Resorts to understand the SMEs’ perspective. The networking additionally enabled exploration of opportunities for future collaboration, stated the casino group.

Melco Resorts launched the SME Academy in 2017 as part of its efforts to support the development of Macau-based suppliers through industry training and technical knowledge. According to the company, the initiative is intended to help local businesses adapt to evolving market conditions and strengthen their competitiveness.

The company said it organised 13 capacity-building workshops during 2025, attracting a combined 646 participants from 319 SMEs. It described the programmes as part of its broader effort to strengthen local enterprises through knowledge sharing and innovation.

Melco Resorts operates several casino resorts in Macau, including City of Dreams, Studio City and Altira Macau, as well as the Mocha Clubs slot parlours. The group also has integrated resort operations in the Philippines, the Republic of Cyprus, and Sri Lanka.

According to a Pagcor release, the body was the “fifth-largest contributor among 50 government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) for fiscal year 2025”.

The country’s leader, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, presented a certificate of recognition to Pagcor chairman and chief executive Alejandro Tengco “in acknowledgment of the agency’s significant contribution to national development”, the release stated.

The presentation of the certificate (pictured) formed part of the GOCC Day celebration, held at the presidential palace in Manila, the country’s capital.

In his keynote address, as quoted in the Pagcor release, President Marcos underscored what he said was the vital role of GOCCs in advancing the country’s development, adding they had long been “paragons of progress, equity, and opportunity”.

He further noted: “It is proof that sound governance and fiscal responsibility can create opportunities for our people, while sparing them from bearing greater financial sacrifice.”

Mr Tengco was also quoted in the release as saying the recognition by the national government underscored Pagcor’s continuing commitment to fiscal responsibility and nation-building.

“Despite recent challenges brought about by global uncertainties, Pagcor remains resolute in its commitment to support nation-building initiatives that help uplift the lives of Filipinos,” he said.

“We will continue to exercise fiscal discipline and work even harder to generate greater revenues for the benefit of the nation,” Mr Tengco added.

The PHP5.67-billion remittance represented 50 percent of Pagcor’s income in 2025, according to the body. That was in compliance with local legislation requiring GOCCs to remit at least half of their annual net earnings to the national government.

Gross gaming revenue (GGR) was “impacted by both the global soccer tournament and some extremely unfavourable hold rates” on gaming business, stated analysts George Choi and Timothy Chau. April was in likelihood the worst month of the quarter in terms specifically of VIP hold, they added.

They were referring first to the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2026 in North America, which a number of analysts has said diverted consumer attention away from Macau casino gambling. The final of the football tournament is due in the United States on July 19.

Citi added, regarding the second-quarter trading situation: “The resulting operating deleverage will likely translate to a 7 percent year-on-year fall in second-quarter 2026 industry EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation] to US$1.923 billion, the lowest level since third-quarter 2024.”

Judged quarter on quarter, Macau-industry EBITDA were likely to be down circa 12 percent, added Citi.

“We expect industry EBITDA margin to fall 1.5 percentage points year-on-year to circa 25.8 percent, mainly reflecting the operating deleverage from the lower-than-theoretical VIP hold,” stated its analysts.

The bank nonetheless observed that with a “star-studded concert and event calendar” in the third and fourth quarters of 2026, Macau GGR “should swiftly return to normal soon after the tournament ends”.

The institution expects Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd to have been the largest EBITDA market share gainer in the second-quarter of 2026. On a sequential basis, Citi anticipates the firm gained 1.7 percentage points, to a market share of circa 24.2 percent.

Citi also noted Galaxy Entertainment had the “longest investment tail” among Macau’s six operators, via Phase 4 of its Galaxy Macau flagship in the city’s Cotai district.

Phase 4 of Galaxy Macau is likely to open in 2028, aimed at attracting high-value consumers, particularly from feeder markets in East and Southeast Asia, said a May report from banking group HSBC.

In its market-wide assessment of the second quarter, Citi said Sands China Ltd was expected to have recorded the largest quarter-on-quarter decline in EBITDA, with its market share falling by 2.5 percentage points to around 27 percent.

The office also mentioned the industry’s compliance effort.

The gaming sector filed 2,018 STRs in the January to June period, up 8.7 percent year-on-year, per the office’s latest data. Gaming-sector STRs accounted for 73.3 percent of Macau’s overall 2,753 STRs.

Macau recorded an aggregate of 20.94 million visitor arrivals during the first half of this year, up circa 9 percent year-on-year, according to the city’s Public Security Police in recent commentary.

Accounting for the higher gaming-sector STR numbers, the office explained: “The increase was mainly due to the increase in the number of visitor arrivals during the first half of 2026, and the continuous investment of resources by reporting entities in detecting suspicious transactions.”

“The STRs reported by the gaming sector involved different types of gaming activities, such as chips conversion without or with minimal gaming activities, chips conversion on behalf of third parties, etc,” remarked the office in its written reply to GGRAsia.

The office additionally noted those scenarios were the “same” as had been recorded in other years recently.

Some recently-added side bets “appear to be infrequently wagered, with many players’ initial reaction being that the bets are less attractive, given the asymmetric nature of the payoff versus the likelihood of loss,” Mr Ho suggested, citing observation from frontline casino staff.

The scholar was referring to the ‘Monkey no Monkey’, ‘Pairs+’, and ‘4/5/6 Cards’ side bet combinations.

That was compared to the enthusiastic adoption by gamblers of an earlier generation of baccarat proposition products during 2024, including ‘Small 6/Big 6’ side bets as well as ‘Lucky 7’ and ‘Super Lucky 7’.

The more recent round of side-bet products saw Macau’s casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, approve in late March ‘Monkey no Monkey’, ‘Pairs+’, and ‘4/5/6 Cards’. These new side-bet propositions mostly boast a theoretical house edge of mid-teens of percent or higher, according to information provided by industry sources, as compiled by GGRAsia (see table below).

Following the regulatory approval of the latest-generation side bets, most Macau casino operators have started incorporating ‘Monkey no Monkey’ and ‘Pairs+’ into their ‘smart’ gaming tables on main floors. That coincided with the Labour Day holiday season in early May, GGRAsia understood from site checks.

The side bet combinations for ‘4/5/6 Cards’ have so far seen only partial adoption across Macau’s main gaming floors, per GGRAsia site checks on July 3. GGRAsia was only able to access mass floors, not VIP gaming areas.

Sands Macao – a Macau peninsula property run by Sands China Ltd – has been observed by GGRAsia as operating three gaming tables in its “Gold Fortune” high-limits zone with the full suite of ‘4/5/6 Cards’ side bets.

MGM China Holdings Ltd was observed in May offering only the ‘4-Cards’ proposition from the ‘4/5/6 Cards’ product on the mass floors of its MGM Macau and MGM Cotai properties. The firm seems recently to have withdrawn ‘4-Cards’ from its main floors, per GGRAsia’s latest site checks.

Wynn Macau Ltd has seemingly since June been offering ‘4-Cards’ for the main floors of Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace from June. That product could only be seen at each property in a single zone with live baccarat featuring main-bet minimums of HKD1,000 (US$127.8) to HKD2,000.

‘Small 6/Big 6’, ‘Lucky 7’, and ‘Super Lucky 7’ had seen the full range of their respective bet propositions offered market wide in Macau soon after their respective regulatory approval in 2024.

‘Monkey no Monkey’, ‘Pairs+’, and ‘4/5/6 Cards’ may be “more complex to grasp at first glance” for players, suggested Mr Ho, a lecturer at the Centre for Gaming and Tourism Studies at Macao Polytechnic University.

“Operators may therefore need time for staff training, smart-table layout adjustments, and player familiarisation before rolling them out widely,” the industry scholar added.

Intuitive play rules

The pace and extent of side bet adoption depend on factors including the tier of gaming patrons; how quickly they make decisions per hand; and the degree that they typically engage with optional proposition bets, said Mr Ho.

He also said: “From a player-behaviour perspective, adoption [of side bets] can be constrained by [players’] perceived value and volatility rather than by fancy payouts.”

The scholar also suggested that the popularity of side bets hinged on whether the play rules seemed intuitive.

“Some of these [new] side bets may be perceived as less directly tied to the primary ‘banker/player’ decision in baccarat. By contrast, the ‘Lucky 6/7’ outcomes are more clearly linked to the main wager that most players already place,” suggested Mr Ho.

He added, referring to the ‘6s’ and ‘7s’ side bet options: “The ‘Lucky’ bets are intuitive to many players”, as those options are perceived as enhancing likelihood for players to “win more”, or help the players as a “partial hedge” against a banker win on six points in non-commission baccarat.

The fresh-to-market baccarat side bets could prove to be an “acquired taste” for Macau’s mass gamblers, as it would in likelihood take “time and repeated exposure” for players to appreciate those optional proposition bets, Mr Ho remarked.

While fresh side bets could be viewed as a “positive” in terms of innovation for Macau’s gaming floors, the balancing of the side-bet menu on a baccarat table could be also important in terms of player appeal, Mr Ho also suggested.

“Baccarat is not typically approached [by gamblers] like games such as sic bo or craps, where players expect multiple proposition bets. And baccarat decisions are usually made in a very short time frame,” said Mr Ho.

“Adding too many complex [side bet] options may increase cognitive load [for players], and too much choice may reduce their participation,” the scholar added.

She will lead the “strategic direction” and “continued growth” of resort offers including the ArtScience Museum, the update said.

Per the Marina Bay Sands statement, Ms Teo was most recently the director of the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage, at the International Olympic Committee, located in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Before that, she had served in various leadership roles at Singapore’s National Heritage Board from 2002 to 2019, according to her professional profile.

“Her distinguished career has seen her play an instrumental role in advancing Singapore’s vibrant arts and heritage landscape – from deepening public engagement with museums and major festivals, to shaping how local works and narratives are curated and presented for international audiences,” the Marina Bay Sands update stated.

The casino resort promoter also remarked: “As Marina Bay Sands continues to elevate its attractions as platforms for discovery, creativity and meaningful engagement, Angelita’s leadership will be invaluable in shaping the next chapter of experiences that inspire guests from Singapore and around the world.”

Marina Bay Sands is run by a unit of Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS), which is also the parent of Macau casino operator Sands China Ltd.

Mr Pielago succeeds Aldwin Sagedao, who had been the acting chief risk officer.

According to the company, Mr Pielago is a certified public accountant with extensive experience in finance, investment and portfolio management, business, asset management and assurance advisory.

Before joining DigiPlus, he held senior finance positions including chief financial officer and treasurer of PNB Holdings Corp, vice president and finance controller at Eton Properties Philippines Inc, and assistant vice president for investment portfolio management at SM Investments Corp.

DigiPlus runs BingoPlus, described as the country’s first government-approved online bingo platform. It also operates ArenaPlus, a sportsbook, and GameZone, a platform for casual and arcade gaming. 

The Philippines-based firm announced in late May Ping Chen as the group’s new president.

Separately on Thursday, DigiPlus said its board had approved that day a “revival” of the company’s share buyback programme, authorising purchases of up to approximately PHP5.36 billion (US$87.1 million) of its common shares. The renewed authorisation will remain in effect for a further 12 months, it stated.

The move comes only days after Betplay Capital Foundation, together with the ZJ Foundation and MJ Foundation, issued an open letter urging DigiPlus to make a substantial and sustained share repurchase programme a capital-allocation priority.

The investment groups, which together hold about 1.4 percent of DigiPlus, argued the company’s shares were trading at a steep discount to what they viewed as fair value. They said DigiPlus traded at around 2.4 times estimated 2026 enterprise value-to-earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA), which is below comparable international gaming operators.

In the letter, the investors also encouraged DigiPlus to postpone discretionary spending on proposed land-based casino resort projects, arguing that repurchasing shares at current valuations would generate greater returns for shareholders than committing capital to long-term development projects. 

In early June, DigiPlus completed a second subscription to convertible notes in Hong Kong-listed International Entertainment Ltd, to a value of HKD800 million (US$102.1 million).

International Entertainment is the controller of a Manila Bay, Philippines, casino hotel with a provisional gaming licence from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor). The property, long known as New Coast Hotel Manila, is currently being promoted as LaVie Resort & Casino Manila.

They said the company should redirect free cash flow towards buying back and cancelling shares while market sentiment remained weak, adding that they expected DigiPlus’ valuation to recover as recent regulatory and macroeconomic headwinds eased.

The arrangement is subject to applicable regulatory approvals and contractual agreements, according to a Thursday filing by PhilWeb to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The announcement provided no financial details regarding the partnership or an expected launch date.

The filing did not specify whether the agreement covers Pragmatic Play’s full product suite.

Pragmatic Play’s offer includes online slots, live-casino services, virtual sports and other gaming content, through a single application programming interface (API).

According to PhilWeb’s filing, Pragmatic Play is licensed and regulated by a number of international gaming authorities, including the Gambling Commission of Great Britain, the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner, and the Malta Gaming Authority.

Pragmatic Play’s products are available in multiple regulated markets and support numerous languages and currencies.

PhilWeb stated Pragmatic Play has its headquarters in Gibraltar, designated a British overseas territory, and is owned by a private group of investors led by Veridian (Gibraltar) Ltd.

The latest partnership further expands PhilWeb’s presence in the Philippines’ regulated online gaming segment. The company, formerly focused on electronic gaming operations, has increasingly positioned itself as a technology and platform provider serving licensed gaming operators in that country.

In March, PhilWeb confirmed a change of ownership after a management-led buyout.

The company has become highly-active as a services provider to the Philippine online gaming sector. In February, it launched the online gaming platform for Hann Casino Resort, a complex at Clark Freeport Zone.

In March, PhilWeb said it would be working with NUSTAR Online, and in the following month it announced a partnership with Travellers International Hotel Group Inc, operator of the Newport World Resorts casino and leisure complex in Manila. 

In May, PhilWeb launched the “Okada Play” online gaming platform in partnership with Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc, the promoter of the Okada Manila complex.