INDUSTRY BRIEF: Macau’s gaming revenue growth slows in August

Macau’s gaming revenue totaled 197.5 billion patacas ($24.55 billion) in August, up 14.8% year-on-year and a 6.2% rise month-on-month, the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureauannounced. That brought cumulative gaming revenue in the first eight months of this year to 152.1 billion patacas, up 33.4% year-on-year but still more than 20% below pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

The growth has been driven by a similar increase in the number of tourists visiting the city. The Macao Government Tourism Office announced about 3.66 million visitors came to the city in August, averaging 118,000 per day, exceeding pre-pandemic levels in 2019. Aug. 24 set a single-day record of 167,000 visitors, beating the earlier record from August 2019.

The explosive rate of gaming revenue growth has been weakening since China ended its pandemic restrictions. Monthly gaming revenue increased by more than 50% year-on-year at the start of this year, but the growth rate has fallen to less than 15% in the last two months. Observers expect the rate to fall further still in the final four months of the year to the low double-digits, since gaming revenue had already rebounded sharply by the fourth quarter of last year.

By Lau Chi Hang

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