Macau’s gaming industry continued its comeback in October, posting record-breaking gross gaming revenues (GGR).
GGR reached MOP19.5 billion (US$2.42 billion) for the month, helped by Golden Week, a seven-day national holiday that began September 29. The total constituted a 400.2 percent year-on-year increase and was more than $248 million higher than the previous 2023 high of $2.13 billion, recorded in August.
A year ago, the Macau government estimated that 2023 GGR would reach $16.25 billion. According to Asia Gaming Brief, from January through October, the industry generated a total of $18.44 billion, up 315.6 percent for the year and easily beating those projections. The year-to-date total is almost $2.48 billion more than the total for fiscal 2021 and 2022 combined.
The strong figures for October portend further growth in the fourth quarter as operators focus on the mass segment rather than VIP. Citigroup has projected $22.7 billion in GGR for the year, or 62 percent of the 2019 level.
Since January 8, when the city reopened its borders, some 20 million visitors have visited. Tourism officials expect the yearly tally to reach 24 million.
In other Macau news, the gaming industry added 2,500 new workers in the three months to September 30, according to data from the city’s Statistics and Census Service. It was the second consecutive quarter of growth, with a total of 71,000 people employed by the gaming industry for the period.
However, as reported by GGRAsia, the employee base still falls short of the record in early 2020. At that time, just before pandemic-related layoffs began, 87,500 people were employed by the city’s chief industry. Even now, as Macau returns to normal, analysts believe gaming operators won’t fill all those vacancies, but will strive to run with fewer onsite workers.
