In September 2024, Macau’s on line casino panorama introduced a fancy image, marked by a big month-to-month lower and an annual enhance in gross gaming income (GGR). The figures, sourced from the native Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), confirmed a GGR of MOP 17.25 billion (roughly US$2.15 billion), which was 12.7% decrease than August’s MOP 19.8 billion (US$2.47 billion). This marked the bottom GGR recorded in 2024 thus far.
Macau’s on line casino income faces blended fortunes in September 2024:
Regardless of this month-to-month downturn, the year-on-year knowledge paints a extra optimistic situation, with a 15.5% enhance from the MOP 14.94 billion recorded in September 2023. This efficiency displays 78.3% of the GGR ranges seen in September 2019, a pre-pandemic benchmark the place revenues have been as excessive as MOP 22.1 billion (US$2.76 billion).
A number of elements contributed to September’s GGR decline. Analysts pointed to the month being a part of a “shoulder season” between the summer time holidays and the bustling October Golden Week. Moreover, exterior pressures equivalent to hostile climate occasions, regulatory crackdowns on unlawful cash exchanges in China, and a lower within the variety of weekend days in comparison with August, additional impacted the revenues.
The mixed GGR for the primary 9 months of 2024 reached MOP 169.36 billion (US$21.1 billion), exhibiting a considerable 31.3% enhance over the identical interval within the earlier 12 months. This development underscores a strong restoration trajectory, regardless of short-term fluctuations.
In an in depth remark, Citigroup highlighted an fascinating pattern in Macau’s gaming flooring. Their September survey famous a notable enhance in high-stakes gamblers, or ‘whales’, who wager HKD 100,000 or extra. The quantity and betting quantity of those gamers this 12 months have already surpassed the figures for your complete 12 months of 2023.
Tourism prospects brighten with Golden Week:
As Macau navigated via these financial dynamics, town additionally kicked off its Nationwide Day Golden Week, which started unofficially with 96,671 guests on Monday, September 29. This determine, reported by the Public Safety Police Drive through Inside Asian Gaming, set a constructive tone for the week, anticipated to draw even bigger crowds.
Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, the director of the Macao Authorities Tourism Workplace (MGTO), expressed conservative but hopeful expectations for a mean every day customer depend of 100,000 throughout the Golden Week. This forecast is ready towards the backdrop of final 12 months’s Golden Week, which noticed a complete of 931,000 guests, with every day averages of round 116,000.
Macau’s resort sector is optimistic about reaching new post-pandemic heights when it comes to occupancy charges and customer numbers throughout this festive interval, probably setting a brand new benchmark for tourism and financial restoration within the area.
