Macau chief remains confident in 2023 GGR target
Chief executive Ho Iat Seng says he’s optimistic about Macau’s prospects for the year.
Macau.- Encouraged by the results in January and during the first days of February, Macau chief executive Ho Iat Seng has again expressed confidence that gross gaming revenue (GGR) for 2023 will reach MOP130bn (US$16bn).
Ho said: “Investment banks have predicted that the gaming revenue will only recover to half of what it was. I won’t comment on the accuracy of their forecasts.”
In January, GGR grew 232.6 per cent month-on-month from MOP3.48bn (US$433n) to MOP11.6bn. It was the best monthly performance since January 2020 – before the Covid-19 pandemic. Nearly 1.40 million visitors arrived in Macau in January. That’s an increase of 101.3 per cent compared to last year and a 259 per cent increase on a month-on-month basis.
For February, J.P. Morgan has reported that Macau’s daily gaming revenue last week was about MOP400m (US$49.5m). It described the figure, a 45 per cent recovery of pre-pandemic levels, as the “best non-holiday print” in over three years.
In theory, to reach the government’s objective, a monthly average of MOP10.83bn is required. That’s without considering seasonality. For full-year 2022, Macau’s casino GGR decreased by 51.4 per cent compared with 2021 to MOP42.19bn (US$5.25bn). That’s just 14 per cent of pre-pandemic 2019 and the lowest yearly figure since 2004.
