Macau concessionaire SJM Resorts S.A. appears to be making progress in the lucrative premium mass segment, with Citigroup analysts claiming to have spotted more high-value players at the company’s Cotai and peninsula properties during their most recent Macau table survey.
In a note, Citi’s George Choi and Timothy Chau said that while Galaxy and Wynn continued to lead the way in terms of total wager observed during the survey, SJM “surprised us the most” with premium mass share of 4.6% compared with the usual 1%.
“The players that we saw at both Grand Lisboa and Grand Lisboa Palace during our visit surprised us both in quality and quantity terms,” they wrote.
“We even saw a HK$240,000 whale at Grand Lisboa (first time since May 2024). We suspect that the recently hired SVP – as mentioned on SJM’s recent earnings call – is delivering some early success to SJM’s premium business.”
SJM, which has long lagged its Macau peers in premium mass, previously outlined plans to increase its sales force from 113 staff to around 200 in an effort to claim market share.
SJM aside, Citi said the premium mass segment continues to show solid growth market-wide with a greater number of players offsetting slightly lower average wager.
Total wager observed in the analysts’ most recent table survey reached HK$11.4 million, up 13% year-on-year and driven by 34% higher player count.
“Our data are telling us that Macau is getting more premium mass players,” they said.
“It is understandable that not all the new premium mass players coming to Macau are going to be whales, and their coming will inevitably dilute the overall premium mass wager per player. In our view, so long as the increase in foot traffic is sufficient to overcome the wager size dilution, we believe premium mass will remain fine and stay as the main growth driver for Macau GGR.”
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