Macau reports double digit growth

Casino GGR experienced a 17 percent increase in February.

Macau.- According to data released by Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) experienced a 17.8 percent increase in February compared to the same period in 2016 to US$2.8 billion.

Last month’s GGR results have been the highest since January 2015 when Macau registered US$2.9 billion in revenues. Analysts said that they were expecting the industry to grow between 5 to 9 percent, not such a big number. Between January and February, the city reported a 10.6 percent year-on-year expansion to US$5.1 billion, and last month’s results are the seventh consecutive month of growth. Sanford C Bernstein Ltd said that February is a peak after January’s disappointing results.

Analysts Vitaly Umansky, Zhen Gong and Yang Xie continued: “We believe a large portion of the upside surprise in February, especially the latter part of the month, was strong VIP, which may have likely shown mid-20s-percent growth year-on-year. The last week of the month was helped by several junket marketing events, including SunCity’s anniversary party, which brought in significant increase in VIP players and agents.”