Posted on: January 1, 2025, 11:01h.
Last updated on: January 1, 2025, 11:01h.
The six casino operators in Macau won 226.8 million patacas, or roughly US$28.3 billion, from gamblers in 2024. That marked a nearly 24% year-over-year surge on 2023 gross gaming revenue (GGR).
Macau’s six casino concessionaires — Sands, Galaxy, SJM, MGM, Melco, and Wynn — experienced a second year of gaming recovery after Chinese President Xi Jinping lifted his controversial “zero-COVID” program in late 2022. The 2024 GGR tally was approximately $5.7 billion richer than what the six firms won in 2023.
The year was capped off with December casino revenue at roughly MOP18.2 billion (US$2.27 billion). That represented a 2% year-over-year decline and was 1.3% lower than November. December was the only month in 2024 where year-over-year GGR was lower than in the same month in 2023.
December was the third-weakest GGR month of the year despite Xi visiting the Chinese Special Administrative Region (SAR) to celebrate the inauguration of Sam Hou Fai as the city’s new chief executive. Macau’s top government position is chosen every five years by a 400-person committee largely composed of Beijing loyalists.
Momentum Maintained
Though December was a setback, 2024 was positive, as the gaming industry successfully pivoted toward the mass market amid a changing regulatory landscape. Once the destination of choice for Asian high rollers, Macau is no longer the VIP paradise it once was after Xi used the pandemic to overhaul the enclave.
Labeling the massive outflow of cash through the tax haven of Macau a threat to China’s national security, Xi instructed Macau and the region’s Judiciary Police to better monitor the activities of junket groups. The travel organizers for over a decade had catered to mainland high rollers by providing them with luxury travel and five-star accommodations.
The trip prices were extravagant — often costing more than $100K — but the VIPs were provided with gaming credit matching their tour cost upon arrival in Macau. In exchange, the six casino operators shared the associated gaming revenue won in the private high roller parlors with the junkets.
Xi’s clampdown on junkets, led by the prosecution of Suncity boss Alvin Chau, who in January 2023 was sentenced to 18 years in prison on illegal gambling and criminal association convictions, resulted in the VIP groups fleeing the market.
Mass Market Focus
With fewer high rollers arriving via junkets, Macau casinos have pivoted their focus to the general public and so-called “premium mass” gambler. The casinos are also investing tens of billions of dollars in non-gaming amenities and attractions to diversify the city in hopes of attracting new visitors.
The $28.3 billion in 2024 GGR represented 77.5% of 2019 GGR levels. Looking ahead, analysts at Morgan Stanley expect “slight but steady growth.” The financial outlet projects that 2025 GGR will come in around $30 billion, and 2026 GGR will be around $31.2 billion.
The actual results will depend heavily on the Chinese economy, which has slowed in recent years. In its December note, analysts at Vanguard said they expect China’s “full-year GDP growth to decelerate in 2025 amid persistent structural and external headwinds, including a prolonged housing downturn, deepening supply-demand imbalances, and global trade developments.”
