Casino firm Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd is confident that its ‘smart’ gaming tables in the Macau market will help the firm “better understand customers, spend and value,” says Seaport Research Partners senior analyst Vitaly Umansky.
He was citing Tuesday comment by Melco Resorts’ management on the first day of the brokerage’s 2025 Seaport Annual Summer Conference, which it says offers either private or small-group meetings between management teams at covered companies and Seaport clients.
In the Macau market, Melco Resorts runs City of Dreams and Studio City in the Cotai casino district, and Altira Macau, a casino hotel in the Taipa district.
Mr Umansky wrote: “The company is still in the early stages of data accumulation on players from the smart digital tables, fully implemented in March”.
He added, citing the firm’s management: “The smart tables are giving more data, that in the medium term will help better understand customers, spend and value, but there is still more time needed to make the data meaningful.”
Mr Umansky also mentioned Melco Resorts indicating that player reinvestment in Macau “remains elevated, compared to pre-Covid, but Melco’s Macau margins are improving with operating leverage and cost controls”.
The definition of player reinvestment can vary, but broadly it means the amount of economic value from a player that needs to be put back into them – via incentives such as complimentary services or rebates – to retain their business and keep them coming back.
Seaport’s Mr Umansky noted: “Melco has been reevaluating its player reinvestment strategy from where it was in 2024, which has helped with costs.”
Regarding MGM China Holdings Ltd, operator of MGM Macau and MGM Cotai properties, Seaport reported the parent MGM Resorts International saying the Macau unit “has not shifted its player reinvestment strategy”.
Mr Umansky observed that MGM China “can maintain market share, but could bleed some share if market has outsized growth, due to MGM’s capacity constraints, especially in rooms”.
Casino lift from Macau shows
The analyst also gave some perspective on the role of resort-based shows and events on Macau gambling business. Shows by certain popular Hong Kong singers and other artists have been mentioned recently by some analysts and Macau operators as helping to lift gaming business.
“Studio City margins will remain lower than City of Dreams, partly due to lower-margin non-gaming business at Studio City, but Studio City’s margin’s next summer could improve as residency shows go away,” he observed.
Mr Umansky also cited conversations with Wynn Resorts Ltd’s management. Its Wynn Macau Ltd unit – operator of Wynn Macau downtown and Wynn Palace on Cotai – does not currently have a large-scale event venue.
Wynn Macau Ltd is spending up to US$250 million this year on concession-related investment commitments made to the Macau government, including upgrades to the hotel tower at Wynn Macau, and an expansion of the Chairman’s Club gaming area at Wynn Palace.
The casino group also hopes by “early 2028” – subject to Macau government approvals – to complete an “event centre” on a parcel of land at the north end of its Wynn Palace site.
The Wynn group indicated that in Macau, “no single factor” had contributed to recent business uptick, but “just a robust improvement of drivers across the board,” said Mr Umansky.
“Event programming has been helpful, but is not as big a factor as some have proclaimed. Improving consumer sentiment has been important,” he added, citing the company’s management.
The analyst cited the Wynn group indicating it should be able in Macau to “maintain share in the mid- 12-percent range,” with last quarter “largely impacted by poor relative hold in both VIP and mass” gambling business.
Melco Resorts also mentioned that Macau customers are more “comfortable” about spending there, and that “there is less economic uncertainty” than there had been.
Mr Umansky said the firm reported that demand in the “high end” of the Macau gambling market was “robust”, with the two top-tier segments within the Signature Club, a loyalty programme, seeing “increase in numbers of players month-on-month”.
