MGM China is preparing to capture and convert as many former junket players into direct VIP and premium mass customers as possible at the company’s Macau integrated resorts, according to President and Chief Operating Officer Hubert Wang.
Speaking to analysts during an investor call following release of parent company MGM Resorts’ 4Q21 financial results, Wang observed that the VIP segment was currently in a transitional phase but that MGM was positioning itself to capture a sizeable chunk of the premium segments moving forward.
“By now I think that all the junket operators in the traditional sense have basically ceased operations in Macau, so the agents who worked for the previous junket operators are trying to find players to settle down,” said Wang. “It’s still quite dynamic in the marketplace, this conversion of former junket players to inhouse players and to premium mass players as well.”
MGM China saw VIP revenues decline significantly in 4Q21, while mass revenues showed year-on-year growth, with Wang confirming the company is now “focusing on premium mass.
“This is where the future lies,” he said, “and capturing as much conversion of junkets to inhouse and mass as possible. We are also looking at the relocation of resources, particularly table games, to support the mass flow initially, so we are going to reallocate more tables from VIP to mass in the coming quarters.”
Wang also pointed to the recent Chinese New Year holiday period as evidence of the changing tides, where an uptick in gross gaming revenues was driven by the mass and premium mass markets.
“We were very satisfied with the Chinese New Year performance in the mass segment where we reached 85% of the pre-pandemic level in terms of mass volume, measured by table drop,” he said. “That’s encouraging.”
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