Macau GGR could reach US$185.7m in August, analysts say

Analysts at Citibank say Macau’s gross gaming revenue could be up 376 per cent month-on-month.

Macau.- Analysts at Citibank have forecast that Macau’s GGR for August could rise 376 per cent month-over-month to MOP 1.5bn (US$185.7m). That figure would be one-third of what was recorded in August 2021.

Citibank noted that mainland tourists will remain cautious when deciding whether to consider Macau as a destination, even though Macau has resumed its quarantine-free entry policy with Zhuhai since early August.

Macau recorded daily casino gross gaming revenue of MOP79m (US$9.8m) for the week ending August 14. In July, GGR was down 83.9 per cent month-on-month and 95.3 per cent year-on-year at MOP398m (US$49.2m) – the lowest GGR since 2003 when city authorities began publishing monthly figures.

Sanford Bernstein previously predicted that Macau’s average daily GGR in August could increase by 549 per cent month-on-month. However, it also said the results “may still be lower” if there were new Covid-19 outbreaks in Macau or mainland China.

Number of Macau gaming workers down 4.3% in Q2

The number of employees at gaming companies in Macau decreased by 4.3 per cent in the second quarter of the year when compared to the previous quarter. The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) reported that 19.1 per cent of Macau’s workforce was employed in the gaming sector, a drop of 0.5 percentage points quarter-on-quarter.

The gaming industry’s underemployment figure rose 46.4 per cent when compared to the previous quarter to 4,100 at the end of June. That represented 26.4 per cent of the 15,700 underemployed in Macau.

According to the DSEC, unpaid or partially paid leave was the main cause of underemployment, accounting for 45.6 per cent of the total – an increase of 4 percentage points quarter-over-quarter.