There has been much commentary recently by a variety of analysts regarding the potential for concerts – by certain popular entertainers – to give a boost to Macau gaming. The benefits can come not only at Macau operators that host such stars in their own large-scale arenas, but also to neighbouring properties, suggest some observers.
Banking institution Citigroup has offered some analysis in a recent note, on the mechanics of how casino operators benefit.
“The event-hosting casino operator can get up to 50 percent of the best seats in the house from the event promoter,” wrote Citi analysts George Choi, Vicky Wei, Alicia Yap and Timothy Chau.
The analysts added the show-hosting casino group would “offer these tickets to its best premium players ‘free of charges’ in some cases”.
But the Citi team noted such premium players would still need to pledge to “check in a certain amount of cash to the hosting casino in order to secure these tickets”.
The analysts stated, referring to the concessionaires that are market competitors to a concert-hosting operator: “The other five casino operators might still be able to get tickets to the remaining best seats, but they will have to split amongst them.
“This means that the hosting casino operator will likely have a disproportionate amount of player checked-in cash commitments for gaming purpose over its peers, which will translate into significant market share gain.”
The banking institution gave an example of how casino groups hosting shows can benefit in their gaming. It mentioned Cantopop artist Jacky Cheung, who Citi stated performed nine shows during the summer this year at the 16,000-seat Galaxy Arena at Galaxy Macau, a property run by Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd.
Citi said: “Galaxy achieved the following post-pandemic highs in second-quarter 2025: GGR [gross gaming revenue] market share rose to circa 20.5 percent, operating EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation] jumped to HKD3.569 billion [US$458.9 million], and EBITDA margin improved to 29.6 percent.”
Nonetheless, the “concert economy” in Macau “may not sustain” itself “without the other stakeholders in the live event business value chain,” stated Citi.
To be sustainable, such entertainment offerings require “artists, event promoters, ticketing-platforms, viewing Macau as potentially a major source of future earnings growth”.
Challenges include the high cost of concert tickets in Macau relative to the Chinese mainland, suggested Citi.
Opportunities include that there is enough demand for the right acts, to sell out a 15,000-seater arena of a Macau operator. And it may be easier to host K-pop artists from South Korea in Macau for a general Chinese audience, than it is to host such performers on the mainland, noted the institution.
“Although ticket prices in Macau are on average much higher versus that in China, most of the concerts and events in Macau are sold out,” wrote Citi’s analysts.
They added: “For Korean artists, it looks like Macau has become the best place to stay connected with the Chinese fans.”
