VIP baccarat revenue up

Baccarat revenue grew considerably in the last quarter of 2016 in Macau.

Macau.- According to information released by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, VIP baccarat improved 12.6 percent year-on-year to US$4.2 billion, considerably higher than the US$3.7 billion registered during the same period in 2015.

The numbers are also higher than the ones from the third quarter in 2016, where Macau reported 16.3 less revenue. The rocky period that the city experienced during the second and third quarter is the reason why full year VIP revenue is down: data shows that in 2015 Macau registered VIP revenues of US$15.9 billion, whilst in 2016 the numbers fell to US$14.8 billion.

According to Investment bank Sanford Bernstein, the casino industry has increased its revenues 10–12 percent in the first week of the year, in comparison with the same period of 2016. “With Chinese New Year commencing on January 28, the first two days of the holiday are generally softer compared to the latter part of the week.  We expect strong GGR performance at the end of January preceded by softening in GGR over the next 3 weeks,” they said.