Gaming experts say 2023 will be remembered as a year of recovery for the Asia-Pacific industry. Macau, historically the world’s top casino market, reclaimed its No. 1 position following three years of intermittent border and property shutdowns due to Covid-19.
The Chinese SAR posted gross gaming revenues (GGR) of MOP$183.1 billion (US$22.7 billion), a 334 percent year-on-year increase following the lean pandemic years. Macau did not fully reopen its borders until January 8, 2023.
The operators’ new 10-year concession terms began January 1. The revenue results triggered a clause in the contracts that requires them to invest more to “explore overseas customer markets and develop non-gaming projects.”
The Big 6—Wynn Macau, Sands China, MGM China, SJM Holdings, Galaxy Entertainment and Melco Resorts—must now increase their non-gaming and overseas-marketing spend by up to 20 percent. Those efforts are expected to bring more international tourists to a city known mostly for its casinos.
Ben Lee, managing partner of IGamiX Management and Consulting, told GGRAsia that 2023 “was the year of the ‘great recovery’ … The year was highlighted by an almost full recovery of mass gaming revenue, with the mainlanders flocking to Macau instead of elsewhere, a surprising return of VIP/premium players … and corresponding rise in fierce competition amongst the concessionaires for the premium” gamblers.
Boding well for the industry’s health was the more than 362,600 visitors who visited Macau during the three-day Christmas holiday, December 23-25, with average daily arrivals of almost 121,000. Though Christmas is not a holiday in mainland China, Macau’s biggest feeder market, it is observed in Hong Kong, the second most important tourist market for the city.
In the Philippines, the big industry news for 2023 was an announcement by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) that it would sell its casino assets, including Casino Filipino-branded properties. PAGCOR has faced pressure to divest of its casino network by lawmakers who say it cannot serve as both a regulator and an operator.
Former casino executive Daniel Cheng, who has worked for both Hard Rock and Genting, said the Philippines’ “rapid rebound” at the start of 2023 “initially cast it as the year’s star.” He added that “this momentum … petered out in the last quarter,” though GGR for the year was expected to exceed the figures for 2019, before the pandemic.
Other news in the region is the opening in November of the Mohegan Inspire Entertainment Resort in Incheon, South Korea. The foreigners-only casino has not yet opened, but is positioned to do so by the end of March.
Meanwhile, MGM Resorts International and the Orix Corp. have begun preparations for their Osaka, Japan integrated resort (IR), an $8 billion casino complex targeted to open in 2030. But an IR plan submitted by Nagasaki Prefecture was just rejected by the central government, due to uncertain financing and concerns about lack of operational experience.
