Macau’s casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) could top MOP19.8 billion (US$2.46 billion) in February, supported by a “solid performance” during the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday period, says brokerage CLSA Ltd.
“Macau is poised to deliver solid performance during Chinese New Year as average visitations over 10 to 17 February track the Macao Government Tourism Office’s (MGTO) forecast of 120,000 per day,” wrote analysts Jeffrey Kiang and Leo Pan in a Tuesday note.
“This is supported by our visit on 12 February, where we saw robust foot traffic at borders and four integrated resorts we visited,” they added.
Macau welcomed more than 898,000 visitors in the first five days of the Chinese New Year break, according to official data. The average number of visitor arrivals stood at about 179,700 a day, showed preliminary figures from the city’s Public Security Police.
The Chinese New Year holiday period runs from February 10 to February 17, inclusive. The holiday period is usually a peak season for Macau’s gaming industry as hundreds of thousands of mainland Chinese tourists take advantage of the break to visit the city.
“We feel there is upside risk to our GGR forecast for February, which we currently forecast at MOP19.8 billion (2 percent above January’s print),” added the CLSA team.
If confirmed, the figure would be the highest monthly tally since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.
During CLSA’s February 12 visit to Macau, “ferries and golden shuttle buses – through the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge – were packed,” observed the brokerage’s analysts.
“The most commonly seen minimum bet for baccarat tables was MOP1,000 (US$124); while tables with higher minimum bets (MOP2,000, MOP3,000 and MOP5,000) were notably occupied in the afternoon,” stated the analysts.
“Besides baccarat, sic bo – which generally commands a higher house edge than baccarat, and minimum bet of MOP500 – was a popular table game among players,” they added. “Slot machines and live multi-game terminals were also popular.”
