MGM China has its eyes firmly set on taking a piece of Macau’s premium mass pie, with the ongoing ramp of MGM Cotai and completion of its The Mansion VIP accommodation opening the door to the segment according to MGM Resorts Chairman and CEO Jim Murren.
Murren outlined the company’s premium mass ambitions during its 3Q19 earnings call on Thursday, with MGM China reporting a 22% year-on-year increase in revenue to HK$5.78 billion (US$738 million) on the back of MGM Cotai’s ramp. Both VIP and mass enjoyed strong growth at MGM Cotai, however Murren noted that the company had seen encouraging results from its recently opened invitation-only premium mass gaming area, Mansion One.
He also noted that the company had enjoyed some crossover from VIP to premium mass following completion of all 27 VIP villas at The Mansion.
“I think the first thing is we needed to get everything up and running. The Mansion is now online and all the villas are now available, so we’e getting really positive responses for that,” Murren said in response to a question on growing MGM China’s premium mass customer base.
“And that’s now allowed us to move into another segment that we’ve really not been able to penetrate (in the past). The progress of adding value to that segment is actually going well.
“In excess of 20% of the [premium mass] business for the quarter is directly attributed to Mansion as new business, so that’s really the critical point for us.”
Murren also expressed confidence in continuing to grow its premium mass segment through 4Q19 while also boosting its Macau market share. According to analysts, MGM China took its share to 10.2% in 3Q19, up from 9.0% in the previous quarter and just 7.0% a year ago.
“Once you start getting towards the main summit it starts to build and we’re starting to see continued strength in that premium mass business coming into the fourth quarter,” Murren said.
“There’s still some business transitioning out of VIP to mass but really what we’re focused on is making sure that the product is right.”
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