Investment banks predict Macau’s GGR for January will reach MOP$6bn

Investment bank Citigroup predicts that Macau’s GGR will be down 25 per cent year-on-year in January.

Macau.- Macau’s total gaming revenue will reach MOP$6bn in January, a decrease of 25 per cent from the same month in 2021, according to Citigroup.

However, the outlook will improve in February. Citi’s forecast for the first two months of this year could reach MOP$14.5bn, down 5 per cent year-on-year.

Bank of America Securities, another investment bank, is more optimistic about its forecast for January, forecasting total gaming revenue of MOP$7.8bn. However, it expects that the Covid-19 Omicron variant could slow down the recovery of overall gaming revenue in the coming months.

JP Morgan Securities also referred to Macau’s GGR for 2022 and stated it “won’t try to predict” the city’s overall casino revenue for this year.

Analysts said 2021 figures were under half of what they had expected a year ago and added: “frankly we feel less confident about our numbers now than a year ago”.

As for Brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd, it predicted Macau’s GGR in January will be down 71 per cent when compared to pre-pandemic levels and down 9 per cent month-on-month.

Macau expects to collect just US$5.35m in taxes via junket commissions in 2022

As previously reported by Focus Gaming News, the Macau government estimates that throughout this year it will only collect MOP43m (US$5.35m) in taxes on the commissions junkets receive from casinos.

The number of junket licences issued by the DICJ has been falling each year from 235 in 2013 to 85 in 2021.

The crisis deepened after Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, CEO of Suncity Group Holdings, was arrested over cross-border gambling and money laundering accusations.