Inside Asian Gaming

IAG AUG 2022年8月 亞博匯 28 COVER STORY “The king is dead. Long live the king.” F irst declared in 1422 upon the death of the French King Charles VI and the instantaneous accession to the throne of his son, King Charles VII, this evocative proclamation full of history and tradition is uttered only on the exceedingly rare and momentous occasion of the passing of the crown from one monarch to the next. And so too, it’s time to make this declaration for the global gaming industry. The harsh reality is that Macau – the undisputed king since surpassing Las Vegas in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in 2007 – is king no more. For the 30 months since the pandemic hit, GGR has ranged, on a calendar monthly basis, from as low as 3% to as high as 43% of 2019 levels, with an average of just 24% throughout the entire pandemic. Meanwhile, in a booming post-COVID recovery many thought impossible, the state of Nevada has booked over US$1 billion in GGR every month since March 2021 – with the lion’s share from Las Vegas, of course. This is approximately 50% higher than the Macau average throughout the entire pandemic and around triple the GGR run rate of Macau’s last completed quarter, 2022 Q2. Even traditionally much smaller jurisdictions like the Philippines, Singapore and Australia are beating or in the ballpark of Macau’s last quarter. 「舊王已逝。新王萬歲。」 這 一充滿歷史和傳統 的喚起宣言，最早 出現在法國國王查 理六世於1422年逝 世、其子查理七世 登基之時，只有在君主傳位權力交接的 極其重要時刻才會發出這樣令人震撼的 感召宣言。 而現在，是時候為全球博彩業喊出 這一口號了。一個殘酷的事實是，澳門 這個自2007年以來博彩總收入（GGR） 便超越拉斯維加斯的無可爭議的王者， 已經被推下寶座。在新冠疫情爆發的30 個月以來，按月計算，GGR只有2019年 水平的最低3%到最高43%不等，而整 個疫情期間的平均水平僅為24%。 與此同時，自2021年3月以來，美 國內華達州在一度被人們持懷疑態度的 疫後復甦階段，已經每個月錄得GGR超 過10億美元，當中最大的份額自然來自 拉斯維加斯。該數據較澳門整個疫情期 間的平均水平高出約五成，是澳門2022 年第二季度GGR運行速度的三倍左右。 就連菲律賓、新加坡及澳洲等傳統上規 模小得多的司法轄區，同一季度的表現 也正超過或接近澳門。