Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) amounted to MOP18.56 billion ($2.3 billion) in December, reflecting a 15.7 percent increase from November’s MOP16.04 billion ($1.98 billion) and a 4.7 percent decrease from October’s high of MOP19.5 billion ($2.41 billion).
According to data released by the local regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), the December tally marked a 433.3 percent increase from the previous year.
For the whole of 2023, Macau’s casino GGR reached MOP183.05 billion ($22.68 billion), indicating a 333.8 percent surge compared to the same period the previous year.
The year of 2023 marked a resurgence for Macau, stepping out of the shroud of the pandemic and the related regulations which effectively shuttered the city for three years.
It also marked the first year of the six concessionaires’ new gaming licenses, with the operators adapting to the new environment which has shunned junkets, shifted to a mass market model and aims to attract more foreign punters.
The results have surpassed the Macau government’s expectations, with the SAR’s Chief Executive in December noting his expectation for MOP180 billion ($22.4 billion), some MOP50 billion ($6.22 billion) more than the government had previously expected.
Under the new gaming licenses, if Macau’s annual GGR reaches or surpasses MOP180 billion, the six concessionaires are obliged to increase their MOP109 billion ($13.48 billion) non-gaming spending by up to 20 percent. However, the SAR’s Chief Executive has been reticent about disclosing the exact requirements of the operators once the threshold is passed.
