Inside Asian Gaming

IAG APR 2023年4月 亞博匯 33 封面故事 Macau’s overall table allocation, which has seen the total number of gaming tables in the market fall from 6,739 at end-2019 to 6,000 in 2023. This was a core criterion in the government’s revised Gaming Law, which became effective on 1 January 2023 and sawonly two operators, MGM China and Sands China, granted more tables than they held previously (Galaxy, Melco, SJM and Wynn all have less). Nevertheless, Melco Resorts Chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho noted during the company’s recent 4Q22 earnings call that the allocation isn’t like for like. Despite seeing its allocation fall from 905 tables at end-2019 to 750 in 2023, Ho said this was “exactly the number of tables we requested according to our investment proposal … so in our minds we didn’t lose tables. “Before the new concession, we had 900 tables but 300 to 400 of those tables were given to junkets. And given that the junket market is no longer there, we didn’t feel it necessary to have all those tables. Between City of Dreams, Studio City and Altira, it would be really hard to jam- pack 900 mass tables onto the floor. We feel very good about the number of tables we have.” 「在新的博彩經營批給之前，我們 擁有900張賭枱，但是其中有300至400 張給了博彩中介。有鑒於博彩中介已不 復存在，我們覺得沒必要保留那麼多張 賭枱。要把那麼多張賭枱塞入新濠天 地、新濠影滙和新濠鋒也挺難的，我們 對於目前擁有的賭枱數量十分滿意。」 博彩中介行業的沒落肉眼可見， 但要在短期內找到能取代他們所帶來那 份收入的方法，則幾乎是不現實的。可 是，營運商們向高端中場及直營貴賓廳 為中心的模式轉變，無疑是通往更高 盈利能力的渠道。這就是為甚麼分析 師們在過去數月內，一直支持澳門「更 好的博彩組合」，在過去博彩中介人的 模式下，營運商須向其中介人合作夥伴 支付1.25%的轉碼佣金，相較於百家樂 2.85%的理論勝率，這意味著博彩中介 人從這些博企內那一間間中介房間所產 生的博彩總收入中，拿到了約43.9%的 可觀份額。 不過，澳門的復甦未必能如預期那 般迅速。澳門旅遊局局長文綺華今年2月 表示，由於旅遊業復甦步伐相當迅速，