Buoyed by new MGM Cotai
Macau’s gross gaming revenues increased 22 percent year-on-year for the month of March according to figures from the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
The latest results puts the market’s accumulated 2018 year-on-year growth at 20.5 percent, or MOP76.51 billion, reported GGRAsia.
Morgan Stanley analysts Praveen Choudhary and Jeremy An said March GGR “benefited from junkets’ annual and spring dinners (more than 6,000 guests joined) as well as a full month contribution from MGM Cotai’s 1,000 rooms and 150-odd mass tables.”
MGM Cotai opened February 13 in Macau’s Cotai district just in time for Chinese New Year. Only 500 of the 1,390 guest rooms were ready for use when the property opened, and other amenities including VIP clubs are still pending. The resort features nine restaurants and bars and 5,000 square meters (54,000 square feet) of retail space; Forbes magazine described the latter as “a cash cow for other Cotai properties.”
While designed for up to 500 gaming tables, the casino at MGM Cotai was licensed for just 125, with an additional 25 to be added next year. To make up for the shortfall, MGM moved 77 tables from its peninsula property for an opening night total of 177: 165 mass market and 12 for its direct VIP customers, reported Inside Asian Gaming.
According to the Morgan Stanley team, average daily GGR reached “MOP850 million/day in the first quarter of 2018, the highest level since 2015. If GGR continues at MOP850 million for the rest of 2018, 2018 GGR could be up by as much as 17 percent year-on-year, implying upside to our estimate of +16 percent year-on-year.”
Based on March GGR, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. upped its forecast for the April-to-June period. “On account of the upside to our March and first quarter 2018 forecasts, our second quarter GGR forecast goes to +15.3 percent from +14.2 percent,” wrote analysts Carlo Santarelli and Danny Valoy.
Macauhub.com reported that are now 40 casinos in Macau. Twenty-two are run by Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, or SJM Holdings; six by Galaxy Entertainment Group; five by Sands China; four by Melco Resorts & Entertainment; two by Wynn China; and one by MGM China, for a total of 6,419 gambling tables and 15,622 slot machines.
