Macau’s gross gaming revenue for the first five days of December was 14% higher than the last week of November, driven by stable visitation and solid numbers from the mass market.
According to brokerage Bernstein’s weekly GGR update, daily GGR from 1 to 5 November was MOP$260 million (US$32.4 million), up from MOP$228 million (US$28.4 million) in the previous week although still 65% lower than in December 2019.
VIP hold was back to normal after falling below the expected range in recent weeks, although volume was down in the “mid-to-high teens %” following a crackdown by authorities in Macau on China on executives from leading junket operator Suncity Group. Suncity’s Macau VIP rooms were all closed from 1 December.
Nevertheless, daily mass GGR increased by around 20% week-on-week with Bernstein’s Vitaly Umansky, Louis Li and Kelsey Zhu estimating a 68% decline in GGR in December compared with December 2019, which would represent a 9% improvement over November 2021.
“Longer term, IVS eVisa and group visa restart and Hong Kong travel resumption will be necessary to drive GGR upwards,” they wrote.
“Recovery will be driven by mass and premium mass (along with non-gaming) and in the long run should offset the negative profitability impact from junket retrenchment.”
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