The use of agents to bring players into Macau’s casinos is on the rise again, with the recent deployment of smart table technology across gaming floors allowing for greater transparency around who these agents are bringing to the table.
Seaport Research Partners detailed the latest developments within the Macau gaming market in a report summarizing the key discussion points from its 2025 Seaport Annual Summer Conference last week where it spent time with Las Vegas Sands, Melco Resorts, MGM Resorts and Wynn Resorts. The revival of Macau’s agency business formed part of its discussions with Melco.
According to Seaport’s senior analyst Vitaly Umansky, all operators are now using agents more liberally in 2025, with third-party agents said to be “consolidating player cohorts for volume pricing” – bringing players to Macau in bulk in order to earn better incentives from operators.
“This has been a growing business,” Seaport stated in summarizing its discussions with Melco, although it also noted that this could be fleeting phase.
“With smart tables, there is transparency around individuals and the chips/money. However, there is always a risk that the government may intervene. [There is] potential for the agency model to diminish as mid-market business strengthens and reliance on agents decreases.”
Seaport added that Melco still considers itself to be in the early stages of data collection from its smart tables – which were only fully rolled out in March – and expects it will take time to make full use of the technology for marketing purposes.
However, the company was adamant the technology that “in the medium term will help better understand customers, spend and value.”
Melco also reiterated the strength of the Macau market at present, highlighting that recent growth has been driven by a combination of factors including stronger visitation and higher spend per visitor.
“Customers are more ‘comfortable’ coming and spending in Macau and there is less economic uncertainty,” Melco said, as per Seaport’s report.
“The high end of the market is robust, with the two top tier segments within the Signature Club (loyalty program) seeing increases in the numbers of players. The increase [has been] observed in both numbers and spending of top-tier (signature club) players month-to-month.”
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