Macau GGR for first 11 days of June estimated at US$66.27m

JP Morgan says Macau’s casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) has reached its highest non-holiday levels since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Macau.- Analysts at JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) have reported that Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) has reached its highest non-holiday levels since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to analysts, daily GGR averaged MOP530m (US$65.7m) last week.

In a note published on Monday, analysts DS Kim and Mufan Shi said that estimated GGR for the first 11 days of June stood at MOP5.5bn (US$66.27m), with a daily run-rate of MOP500m (US$61.9m). The GGR run rate improved over the past two to three weeks but numbers are logically down against April and May due to their holiday periods – June is historically one of the months with lowest GGR.

Analysts attributed the improvement to a series of concerts by Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung Hok-yau at the Venetian Macao casino resort and the opening ceremony of the Karl Lagerfeld hotel at the Grand Lisboa Palace property, which helped drive the weekly recovery.

Despite the positive trajectory, JP Morgan expects GGR to soften in June due to seasonality. The brokerage forecasts the full-month revenue to range between MOP14bn (US$172.72m) and MOP14.5bn (US$179.15m), which would be lower than May’s MOP15.57bn (US$1.93bn) and April’s MOP14.72bn (US$1.83bn).

Nonetheless, analysts have recently indicated that mass revenue and EBITDA are likely to reach 80 per cent and 65 per cent of pre-Covid levels respectively in the second quarter of the year. The release of second-quarter results will coincide with the summer holiday season, which marks the first time since reopening that there will be no hotel or labour constraints. JP Morgan believes this period will stabilise investment sentiment, not only for Macau but also for Hong Kong and China.