Macau GGR to grow up to 5 pct in February

According to Bernstein analysts, February gross gaming revenue will be up between 2 to 5% year-on-year in Macau.

Macau.- The gaming industry continues to grow at an amazing pace in Macau but forecasts for this year weren’t very encouraging. However, according to Bernstein analysts, February GGR in the Chinese territory will go up between 2% to 5%.

The brokerage explained that the return of high rollers posted during the Chinese New Year helped boosted local figures up. Their increased visitation, after they returned past the Chinese New Year period, had GGR growing and monthly figures will improve from the same month in 2018.

“We may see some continued strengthening in high end play during the second half of this month, in which case, may bring further upside to our current February estimate,” they explained.

Even as the monthly figure will go up, the accumulated for both January and February is still expected to go down. According to Bernstein, GGR will be down by single digits year-on-year as a result of the smoking ban which was enforced on January 1, 2019 and which heavily impacted gaming venues’ attendance.