NagaCorp Ltd, the operator of NagaWorld, a casino resort monopoly in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, has announced that it recorded a 15.5 percent increase in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in 2023, reaching over $515 million.
The company posted a net profit for the Financial Year ended December 31st, 2023, which increased by 65.7 percent to $177.7 million compared to $107.3 million in the previous year.
According to the company’s results released on Monday, the group also saw an improvement in EBITDA, up 20.3 percent to $295.3 million in 2023 compared to $245.4 million in the previous year. A higher EBITDA margin of 55.4 percent was recorded for the same period.
The group notes that the mass market and premium VIP market segments, with a blended gross profit margin of 84 percent (net of gaming tax), accounted for 94 percent of the total gross profit for FY23.
Premium VIP market rollings increased by 46.5 percent, to $4.3 billion, compared to the previous year, due to an increase in customer visitation and higher average rollings per visit.
Referral VIP market GGR grew by 67.6 percent yearly to $44.2 million, with a 52.3 percent increase in business volume.
In the financial results, the company notes that the average daily business volumes for the mass market segment have increased yearly by 7.2 percent, indicating that the recovery trend of the mass market segment remains intact. The higher business volumes were supported by an increase in visitation to the property.
According to the tourism report for 2023 by the Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia, international tourist arrivals in 2023 have recovered to 82.5 percent of the levels registered in 2019.
The recovery of visitation from China still lags behind, with a recovery rate of 23.2 percent.
About 71.9 percent of the total Chinese visitor arrivals were business travelers.
NagaCorp management believes that there is room for the mass market segment to continue growing, as the Chinese visitor arrivals to Cambodia continue to increase with improved direct flight connectivity.
Currently, direct weekly flights from the Greater China region to Cambodia have only recovered to around 26 percent of the 2019 level.
The company also mentions that 2024 has been declared as the ‘Year of People-to-People Exchanges’ between China and Cambodia to boost tourism, trade, and investment cooperation more actively, during a meeting between the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and the Chinese President Xi Jinping.
‘Apart from the increase in visitation to NagaWorld, the Company observed higher average spending from the premium mass customers.’
‘During FY2023, about 34.8 percent of the total Mass Market Table GGR was contributed by premium mass customers at the high-limit gaming zones. Such a percentage of Mass Market Table GGR contribution is about 23.3 percent at the 2019 pre-pandemic level.’
