Casino revenues up 15% to MOP18.44 billion in November

Local casinos’ gross gaming revenues (GGR) reached MOP18.438 billion last month the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau has announced.

The results, published yesterday, show an increase of 14.9% when compared year-on-year with the same month last year.

In the first eleven months of this year casinos generated an accumulated GGR of MOP208.58 billion, that is, just MOP1.42 billion short of the government’s forecast for the whole year.

Casinos were up 26.8% up year-on-year by the end of November.

Last year, December (MOP18.57 billion) was the second-highest GGR month, only surpassed by October (MOP19.5 billion).

Historically, and particularly in the pre-pandemic period, December GGR results were often similar to November.

If that trend persists, this year’s final revenue result will be around MOP227 billion.

Late last month, the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, defended next year’s gaming industry GGR forecast of MOP240 billion, during discussions about next year’s basic government budget.

Lawmakers had mixed feelings about the figure.

While some considered the amount “very conservative,” others worried the government could be overestimating receipts and underestimating regional competition and other external factors.

As on many occasions in the past, Lei did not elaborate much on how the government arrived at its forecast.

He said only that it was related to an estimated growth percentage for the industry based on the this year’s results as well as the forecast number of inbound visitors for 2025 that he said would potentially grow around 9% when compared to this year.

Citigroup analysts last week also believed next year’s GGR might be underestimated, forecasting the gaming industry could be worth some MOP243 billion next year.

They noted that by default, the government has consistently applied conservative estimates for the industry over the past decade.