Gaming | Mass market revenue climbs at VIP expense

The mass gaming segment proved to be the big winner for Macau in the first quarter of 2019.

According to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), the mass segment saw growth of 16.1% in the first quarter, helping the city take in MOP38.9 billion in gross gaming revenue.

Meanwhile, VIP baccarat slipped across the first three months of 2019, with revenue that fell 13.4% year-on-year to MOP37.2 billion.

It accounted for 48.8% of Macau’s casino revenue for the quarter, compared to 53.3% in the previous quarter, indicating a diminishing reliance on the volatile market segment.

Gross gaming revenue dipped 0.4 percent year-on- year in March, rounding out the quarter with a 0.5 percent contraction in the latest sign of market stabilization. First quarter gross gaming revenue amounted to MOP76.15 billion in 2019, compared with MOP76.51 billion a year earlier.

In the first quarter of the year, there were 6,624 live-dealer gaming tables in Macau, an increase of 36 from the last quarter of 2018. The DICJ had fulfilled previous agreements to allow more tables at a small number of venues, resulting in the uptick.

However, the number of slot machines fell by 0.5% year-on-year to stand at 17,122. Despite the year-on- year decline, the number was 6.6% higher than the 16,059 seen in the last quarter of 2018. DB

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