VIP services grow in Macau

Casino VIP offerings in Macau have unexpectedly increased after a crisis generated for stricter government’s controls on the sector.

Macau.- Casino operators of Macau keep announcing good news after two years of economic instability activated by Chinese government’s stricter controls on the VIP sector, which attracts billionaires players from around the world. This month, precisely the VIP sector experienced a growth of 16.8 percent year-on-year.

Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) revealed this week that the exclusive services gathered over US$4.43 billion in gross gaming revenue (GGR) during the first quarter of 2017. The latest result also means a 6 percent of growth sequentially. Meanwhile, the mass revenue growth was only 7.9 percent during the same period. On the other hand, slot machines operated increased 13 percent year-on-year, which represents the highest revenue in four years.

“This then marks the third consecutive quarter of mass growth in the 11 percent to 12 percent range and is encouraging in the context of a stable mass-anchored recovery. This also represents the first time in nearly six years (11Q3) that VIP grew at a faster rate than mass,” stated the Macau Union gaming yesterday.

“Digging deeper into the numbers, it has become clear that the high end of the market has rebounded – and we would apply this to both VIP and premium mass,” it added. “While the gut reaction would attribute most of the strength in slots to the fact that Macau is ‘on sale’ and budget-conscious gamblers can get a cheap room, we also believe that high-end / VIP slots are also outperforming.”