{"id":777039540,"date":"2026-03-23T09:10:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T12:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777039540"},"modified":"2026-04-21T13:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:14:13","slug":"macau-premium-mass-segment-holds-up-in-march-says-citigroup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-premium-mass-segment-holds-up-in-march-says-citigroup","title":{"rendered":"Macau premium mass segment holds up in March, says Citigroup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rising spend per player and an increase in whales reinforce expectations of continued GGR growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Macau.- The premium mass gaming segment in Macau is looking solid this month, Citigroup says. It cited sees higher-value play offsetting the usual seasonal decline in volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to its survey, the average wager per premium mass player rose 17 per cent year-on-year to HKD20,689 (US$2,640) while the number of players fell 16 per cent to 543. Total wagers for the segment were flat at HKD11.2m (US$1.4m).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank reported an increase in whales (betting HKD100,000 (US$12,700) or more) to 25, up from 20 a year earlier. It says Galaxy Entertainment Group led with a 32 per cent share of observed wagers, followed by Sands China at 21 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citigroup forecasts low-to-mid teens GGR growth for the first quarter of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Macau premium mass wagers jump 17% during CNY as average bet hits record high<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rising spend per player and an increase in whales reinforce expectations of continued GGR growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":21170,"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 reports a robust premium mass gaming segment in Macau, characterized by a 17% year-on-year increase in average wager per player and a rise in high-value 'whales,' despite a decrease in overall player volume. Galaxy Entertainment Group and Sands China hold significant market share, with Citigroup forecasting low-to-mid teens GGR growth for Q1 2026.","focusai_entities":"Citigroup, Galaxy Entertainment Group, Sands China","focusai_location":"Macau","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), compliance_legal (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Premium Mass Strategy Impact?","query":"What specific operational strategies are Galaxy Entertainment Group and Sands China employing to capture and retain the increased spend within the premium mass segment, and how do these differentiate their market positioning?"},{"label":"AML Implications of Whales?","query":"How might the observed increase in 'whales' impact the regulatory scrutiny on AML and responsible gaming protocols within Macau's concessionaires, and what proactive measures are being implemented?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338,24628,158],"tags":[24868,257,25167],"class_list":["post-777039540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","category-highlight-of-the-week","category-slider-home","tag-citigroup","tag-macau","tag-premium-mass-segment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777039540","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\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777039540"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777039540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777039555,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777039540\/revisions\/777039555"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777039540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777039540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777039540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}