Macau made gross gaming revenue of about MOP10.32 billion (US$1.27 billion) last month, up 33.1 per cent compared to the same period a year earlier, the latest data from the city’s gaming watchdog says.
However, it only accounted for 40.7 per cent of the 2019 level of MOP25.37 billion. The February result also came short of a Morgan Stanley estimate of MOP11.2 billion earlier.
The city so far raked in some MOP21.9 billion since the beginning of the year, up 55.3 per cent. The accumulated result is already more than half of the total the city reached last year.
For full-year 2022, Macau’s casino revenue plunged by 51.4 per cent to MOP42.19 billion compared to 2021, a record low since 2004.
In a note from investment bank JP Morgan, analysts DS Kim and Mufan Shi said that the latest result implied a daily run-rate of MOP369 million, a figure in line with the January rate of MOP374 per day even without the Lunar New Year holiday.
“This should, in our view negate the bears’ argument that the strong January beat was just an ‘one week wonder’ from the LNY boost,” said the two analysts. “ It help the market gain confidence in the sustainability of the recovery.”
In spite of the demise of the VIP junket sector, the investment bank believes that the February gaming revenue, which was said to be comfortably above the MOP10 billion consensus, suggests a 65 per cent recovery for the mass market, and a 15 percent one for the VIP segment – compared to Singapore, Las Vegas, and South Korea where local mass demand stands at 20 to 30 per cent above pre-Covid levels.
