21 consecutive months of growth
The world’s No. 1 gaming destination once again has reason to celebrate. Macau posted a 27.6 percent increase in gross gaming revenues for the month of April, the 21st consecutive month of growth. The figure beat most analysts’ forecasts by about 8 percent. Macau has now raked in MOP$102.2 billion (US$12.6 billion) in the first four months of 2018, up 22.2 percent over the same period last year.
“The mass market, which grew at a ~20% clip in 1Q18, has accelerated in April and now into May,” observed Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen. He said Galaxy Entertainment Group and Sands China are most likely to benefit most from the recent surge in mass, but added “we expect all of Macau’s Big 6 to reap the benefits of the current market conditions.”
May GGR is currently tipped to come in at just under 20 percent growth, reported Inside Asian Gaming.
The Macau Daily Times reported that mass gaming “was a more meaningful driver of the growth, partially helped by strong traffic ahead of the May Labor Day holiday.” But Carlo Santarelli of Deutsche Bank said VIP led the growth in April. Santarelli raised his full-year growth forecast for Macau from 12.4 percent to 14.9 percent. Felicia Hendrix of Barclays raised her full- year growth forecast to 12 percent from 11 following the strong results in April. Hendrix has more than doubled her May revenue growth estimate from 7 percent to 15 percent. Praveen Choudhary of Morgan Stanley also attributed growth to a boost in visitation ahead of the holiday, and based on his sources, revenue could grow 15 percent in May, according to GGRAsia.
Average occupancy was 87 percent, up 4.3 percentage points over last year. And occupancy at five-star hotels rose 7.8 percentage points to 90.1 percent. Year-to-date, total guests are 9.2 percent to 3.352 million in the first quarter. Visitors on package tours also grew, at 12.4 percent to 730,000 for the month. That total is up 23.8 percent to 2.144 million for the first quarter.
