Macau GGR Dragged Down by Typhoon and Seasonality: Citigroup

MACAU, SAR (October 18, 2023) — Macau’s daily gross gaming revenue (GGR) experienced a significant downturn last week, indicating the impact of Typhoon Koinu and the seasonal slowdown after the National Day Golden Week, according to financial service company Citigroup.

The Macau News Agency (MNA) reported that in a Monday note, Citigroup said that the GGR for the first 15 days of October could have reached MOP10 billion (US$1.2 billion).

The figure implied a daily run-rate of MOP479 million for last week, a notable 42 per cent decrease compared to the MOP831 million daily run-rate recorded in the first eight days of October.

MNA reported Citigroup analysts George Choi and Ryan Cheung commented on the slowdown, attributing it to the impact of Typhoon Koinu, which hit Macau early last week, as well as the anticipated seasonal slowdown following the National Day Golden Week.

“Typhoon signal #8 was not lowered until 10am on Oct 9th, which likely means volume on Oct 9th was extremely low,” the analysts said.

The investment bank expected casino traffic to gradually pick up, as popular Cantopop singer Eason Chan is scheduled to perform his remaining six shows over the last two weekends of the month in Macau.

Citigroup maintained its October GGR forecast at MOP19.5 billion, representing 74 per cent of the 2019 level.

This projection suggested that the average daily GGR for the rest of the month will be around MOP594 million.

The report also noted that insights from industry sources indicated a month-on-month increase of 35 per cent in VIP volumes, while mass volumes have seen a rise of 30-33 per cent compared to the previous month.

SOURCE: Macau News Agency (MNA).