Macau’s mass gaming revenues have now exceeded pre-COVID levels, driven by the impressive recovery of the premium mass segment according to investment bank JP Morgan.
In a Wednesday note following release of Macau’s GGR results for October – which reached a post-pandemic high of MOP$19.5 billion (US$2.42 billion) – JP Morgan analysts DS Kim, Mufan Shi and Selina Li observed that overall revenues had now reached 76% of 2019, with October’s daily run-rate sitting at MOP$650 million (US$80.7 million).
This, they added, suggests mass GGR has finally recovered beyond pre-COVID levels to 105% of October 2019 as per JP Morgan estimates, “as even grind/base mass demand recovered to 85% to 90% levels vs premium mass at 110% to 120%),” they wrote. “The pace of VIP recovery remained steady at 23% to 24%, similar to Q3.”
Looking ahead, the analysts state that November isn’t going to be as robust given seasonality but the pace of recovery should accelerate again from December towards GGR levels of around 80% of pre-COVID, in part thanks to easy comps.