Mass-market baccarat generated 59% of Macau GGR in Q1

Macau generated MOP20.51bn (US$2.54bn) from mass-market baccarat in the first three months of the year.

Macau.- The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) has reported that Macau’s mass-market baccarat generated MOP20.51bn (US$2.54bn) in the first quarter of the year. The figure accounted for 59 per cent of all gross gaming revenue (GGR). It was up 207.8 per cent from the previous quarter and 89.5 per cent year-on-year.

VIP baccarat accounted for 24.7 per cent of GGR in the three months to March 31 at MOP8.57bn of MOP34.64bn. Slot machine revenue was MOP2.45bn – 7.1 per cent of the market share. Mass-market games as a whole, including slot machines, accounted for 75.3 per cent of Macau’s first-quarter casino GGR at nearly MOP26.08bn.

The number of live gaming tables in the Macau market stood at 6,000 at the end of the first quarter, while the number of slot machines was 12,000.

Last August, the Macau government announced new rules for gaming concessionaires, including the minimum annual target of casino GGR to be generated from each gaming table and machine from January 1. The minimum annual gross income was set at MOP7m per gaming table and MOP300,000 per machine.

Accumulated GGR for the first three months of the year was MOP34.64bn (US$4.29bn), a 95 per cent yearly increase but down 54.5 per cent when compared to the same period in 2019. Macau received over 4.96m visitors in the period. According to the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), 1.5 million were from Hong Kong, a nearly tenfold increase from last year.