Macau’s May Casino Revenue Shows Strong Growth, Expected to Hit Post-Covid High

MACAU, SAR (May 22, 2023) — Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) has shown strong growth in the first 21 days of May, with demand tracking solidly month-to-date, according to a report by JP Morgan analysts DS Kim and Mufan Shi.

The casino revenue is estimated at MOP11.1 billion (US$1.38 billion) for the period, indicating a daily run-rate of MOP528 million, ahead of the already impressive April figure of MOP491 million.

The Macau News Agency (MNA) said that while the report notes that last week’s gross gaming revenue weakened to approximately MOP450 million per day, the analysts emphasise the importance of focusing on monthly and month-to-date trends rather than just a single week, given the “potential margin of error” in these weekly checks.

The month-to-date numbers suggest mass demand is run-rating at around 85 per cent of pre-Covid levels, while VIP demand is at about 25% recovery, the two analysts said.

Both figures are significantly higher than the 67 per cent and 15% recovery rates observed during the first quarter of 2023.

The investment bank’s analysts expect May’s casino revenue to reach a new post-pandemic high of MOP15.5 billion, up from MOP14.7 billion in April, implying a 60 percent recovery in headline GGR led by an 85 percent recovery in demand from the mass market.

Despite the recent lack of reaction to positive news and prints from Macau stocks and China’s travel and leisure stocks, Kim and Shi remain bullish on the Macau gaming sector.

“We continue to believe – and hope – that better-than-expected fundamentals will ultimately drive the sentiment or stocks higher as the Street numbers move up, which in turn should further shave off valuations to ‘too cheap to ignore’ levels,” said the analysts.

SOURCE: Macau News Agency (MNA).