{"id":777031357,"date":"2025-09-08T08:08:53","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T11:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777031357"},"modified":"2026-04-21T19:24:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T22:24:36","slug":"citigroup-survey-notes-premium-mass-wagers-remain-robust-in-macau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/citigroup-survey-notes-premium-mass-wagers-remain-robust-in-macau","title":{"rendered":"Citigroup survey says premium mass wagers still strong in Macau"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The average wage per player has offset a drop in player numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Macau.- <strong>Citigroup<\/strong>\u2019s latest survey of Macau casinos observed that premium mass wagers rose 3 per cent year-on-year despite an 18 per cent decline in player numbers. Average wager per player increased 27 per cent year-on-year to HK$24,550 (US$3,150), up from HK$19,389 (US$2,490) in September 2024, more than offsetting the decline in player volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Premium mass wagers during the survey amounted to HK$12.3m (US$1.58m), 3 per cent higher compared to the prior year. The survey recorded 500 premium mass players, down from 610 in September 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Analysts <strong>George Choi <\/strong>and <strong>Timothy Chau<\/strong> wrote: \u201cPerhaps because we conducted our September 2025 survey right after school started, the number of premium mass players seen fell 18 per cent year-on-year.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They added: \u201cHowever, the 27-per-cent year-on-year increase in average wager per player \u2013 a metric to measure player quality \u2013 more than offsets it, translating to a 3-per-cent year-on-year increase in total premium mass wager observed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe believe this is a sign suggesting a recovery even in grind mass,\u201d observed Choi and Chau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The survey observed <strong>27 whales <\/strong>(players with bets of HK$100,000 per hand or more). The \u201cPlayer of the Month\u201d was spotted placing a bet of HK$2m (US$257,000) at the Venetian High Limit Area. This is the fifth time in the past six months that the Player of the Month exceeded HK$1m ($128,500) in wagers. Other whale sightings included a HK$400,000 (US$51,400) player at Wynn Palace\u2019s Chairman Club and a HK$300,000 (US$38,500) whale at the City of Dreams High Limit Area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sands China<\/strong> ranked number one in Citi\u2019s premium mass September survey, with a 35-per cent market share of wagers. <strong>Galaxy Entertainment Group <\/strong>ranked number two, while Citi said that MGM China Holdings could gain some market share via new marketing strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label\">See also:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/12\/163949224816388858421637591606macau-ggr-300x200.jpeg\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href='https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-casino-revenue-to-rise-by-over-13-in-september-analysts-predict'>Macau casino revenue to rise by over 13% in September, analysts predict<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The average wage per player has offset a drop in player numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":777031361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Citigroup's latest survey in Macau indicates a 3% year-on-year increase in premium mass wagers, despite an 18% decline in player volume. This growth is attributed to a significant 27% rise in the average wager per player, suggesting an improving player quality and potential recovery across broader mass market segments. Sands China leads market share, with MGM China poised for potential gains.","focusai_entities":"Citigroup, George Choi, Timothy Chau, Sands China, Galaxy Entertainment Group, MGM China Holdings","focusai_location":"Macau","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (0.7), compliance_legal (0.7), operator_casino (1.0), marketing_crm (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Macau Premium Mass Outlook","query":"What are the long-term implications of sustained growth in average wager per player offsetting declining player volume for Macau's premium mass segment, and how does this impact GGR projections?"},{"label":"Operator Strategy Shift","query":"How are Macau's leading operators, particularly Sands China, Galaxy Entertainment, and MGM China, adapting their B2C marketing and player acquisition strategies to capitalize on the increasing value of premium mass players and 'whales'?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,16338],"tags":[257,23906],"class_list":["post-777031357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casino-news","category-east-asia-news","tag-macau","tag-macau-casinos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777031357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777031357"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777031357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777031372,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777031357\/revisions\/777031372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777031361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777031357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777031357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777031357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}