CreditSights Inc says it expects inbound visitor numbers and “steady spending” per visitor, although the Macau market has seen “moderate” improvements in casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) compared to 2019.
“Further growth is expected for the rest of 2024, but year-over-year trends have slowed as the recovery matures,” CreditSight, a division of the Fitch Group, said in a report on the Macau gaming outlook on Wednesday.
The agency expects Macau’s 2024 full-year GGR to recover to “a 24% year-over-year increase to approximately $28 billion between 75% and 80% of 2019 levels or at the middle point.”
Macau’s 2023 casino GGR rose 333.8% year-over-year to MOP183.06 billion ($22.85 billion) after travel and other COVID-19 related restrictions were lifted in January last year.
Official data showed Macau’s GGR in the six months to June 30 was slightly above MOP 113.75 billion, up 41.9% from the previous year but below 23.9% in the same cumulative period in 2019.
According to preliminary data from Macau’s government tourism agency, the city received a total of nearly 16.73 million visitors in the first half of 2024, about 82.5 percent of the same period in 2019. The overall figure represents an average of 91,918 arrivals per day during the period.
According to CreditSights, Macau’s second-quarter GGR “improved slightly from about 75% of Q1 2019 levels in Q1 2024 to 77% of Q2 2019 levels.”
“We believe this is attributable to the near extinction of junket promoters, which have had a meaningful impact on the recovery of VIP GGR,” the agency observed.
“Since coming out of Covid, we have seen a faster recovery in the popular market, which now accounts for the majority of Macau’s GGR,” it added.
VIP Baccarat generated just over MOP133.1 billion in revenue between April and June this year, with a 23.6% share of Macau Casino GGR during the period, according to data from gaming regulators.
“Among the casino operators in Macau, MGM China Holdings Ltd sees it as the biggest winner coming out of Covid,” CreditSights said.
“The company benefited from a significant increase in market share (compared to 2019), partly reflecting an increase in table game allocation due to recent concession renewals [early 2023].”
BY: 파워볼사이트
