GGRAsia – Macau premium biz trends resilient in April: Citigroup

Macau premium biz trends resilient in April: Citigroup

Apr 15, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Business trends in the Macau gaming sector “look resilient” in April, ahead of the Labour Day break, suggested Citigroup in a recent memo.

“We won’t be surprised if Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) is going to be generated by less premium-mass players this month, given the timing of the Labour Day holidays this year,” wrote analysts George Choi and Ryan Cheung, following the institution’s latest spot-check survey of Macau premium mass gaming tables.

The next major holiday on the Chinese mainland – Macau’s main tourism feeder market – will be the Labour Day break, which will run from May 1 (Wednesday) to May 5 (Sunday) inclusive.

Citigroup forecast Macau’s GGR to reach MOP18.50 billion (US$2.3 billion) in April, up 26 percent from the prior-year period, but down 5 percent from the MOP19.50 billion recorded in March.

According to Citigroup’s April premium-mass table survey, wager by player was down 5 percent year-on-year. That was because “the base was high,” said the analysts, as the April 2023 survey “was conducted on the Friday before the Labour Day holidays” last year. The holiday period in 2023 ran from April 29 to May 3.

“More importantly, this 5-percent year-on-year decline is more than offset by the 60-percent year-on-year increase in player count,” stated the institution. Such growth translated into a “53-percent year-on-year increase in total wager observed,” added the analysts.

Total wager observed in April’s survey amounted to HKD11.1 million (US$1.4 million), compared to circa HKD7.2 million in April 2023, said Citigroup. The number of premium-mass players seen “amounted to 568,” it added.

“Wager by player in April 2024 fell slightly by 5 percent to HKD19,467, but this is likely due to the 60-percent year-on-year higher player count, which likely means that there are relatively more casual premium players versus April 2023,” said Mr Choi and Mr Cheung.

They added: “The Labour Day holidays are just around the corner, and some players will probably save their Macau visas until then.”

There were 18 “whales” observed in Citigroup’s April survey – players with bets of HKD100,000 per hand or more – versus 14 a year earlier. “We spotted whales at five of the six casino operators – except SJM [Holdings Ltd] – during our survey,” said the institution.