Macau Gross Gaming Revenue

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The gross gaming revenue for Macau is up 22%. The revenue has beaten what the analysts estimated for the first quarter of 2018, so far. The March 3.2 billion gross gaming revenue shows that people are returning to Macau despite recent troubles with Hong Kong and the Mainland’s crackdown. The increase of 22 percent caught many analysts by surprise.

The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau provided the information in Macau. It is possible the Macau streak for gaming revenue might last. The numbers have been better in recent months, even from last year that shows growth is happening again.

The monthly results are based on a year-on-year analysis, which shows a growth of 20.5 percent overall, which is about $9.46 billion. The March gross gaming revenue shows a $3 billion increase over what it was in February.

Analysts Projections Eclipsed

Analysts were expecting a 13 to 18 percent growth increase for March, but after 20 consecutive months of revenues jumping higher, it seems that Macau decided to push the envelope and gain 22 percent.

The near two-year gains show a change in Macau’s income climate. There was a twenty-six month period of declines for Macau, where people were asking if the casino kingdom would be able to come back.

Union Gaming Brokerage said there was concern that Macau casinos might hit a slowdown period in March, particularly with the National People’s Congress Meeting.

Chinese New Year was in Mid-February, so it made sense for that month to show some increases, but most analysts thought tourists would go home, revenue would be slow, and there would be nothing too notable to talk about.

It seems that instead of their projections, Macau decided to help keep the interest, whether it was advertisements or just increased interest in the new casinos. The post-Chinese New Year crowd continued to visit making the first two weeks in March the busiest.

Grant Govertsen said the gross gaming revenue spiked after the meetings too, which helped provide a strong last week of the month.

The VIP market is up again, which occurred mostly in the second half of March. Grovertsen believes the March momentum will continue into April. Perhaps, it has something to do with VIPs as part of the meetings, who hung around when they were over. It might have to do with more Saturdays being in the month too, versus in April which has less.

Darcy isn’t your typical bookworm. She loves to read, but there’s adventure in her life, too. As she would put it – words and play, makes for much to say. Our Darcy is a poet and a gaming journalist. She has a tight grasp of on the latest regulatory developments not only in her home in Italy, but all across Europe. Darcy is our go-to person when we need to make sense of local regulation across Europe and neighbouring regions.