In the first quarter of 2025, Macau’s mass-market casino gambling sector, which includes slot machine play, reported gross gaming revenue (GGR) of MOP43.20 billion (US$5.40 billion), marking a 0.6 percent increase from the same period last year and representing about 75 percent of the total.
However, according to data released by the SAR Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, this figure reflects a slight decline of 0.5 percent compared to the previous quarter.
Notably, the current quarterly revenue is 10.9 percent higher than the mass-market GGR recorded in the first quarter of 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
For this quarter, mass-market revenue, including slots, comprised 74.9 percent of Macau’s total GGR of MOP57.66 billion (US$7.19 billion). Specifically, mass-market baccarat generated over MOP34.32 billion (US$4.29 billion), accounting for more than 59.5 percent of the total GGR.
In contrast, VIP baccarat GGR rose by 0.5 percent year-on-year to nearly MOP14.46 billion (US$1.80 billion), making up 25.1 percent of Macau’s overall GGR for the quarter, and showing a sequential increase of 3.3 percent.
Slot machine revenue reached slightly over MOP3.27 billion (US$405 million), which represents a market share of about 5.7 percent. This marks a 1.7 percent increase from the previous year, though it declined by 2.9 percent from the previous quarter.
Gaming revenue generated by VIP baccarat in the first quarter of 2025 accounted for 38.9 percent of the levels recorded in the same quarter of pre-pandemic 2019.
Macau Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai recently reiterated warnings over the risk of a government budget deficit this year if monthly gaming revenue falls below MOP15 billion (US$1.88 billion).
“The imbalance in our fiscal structure is serious, and we must maintain a strong sense of crisis awareness. Macau is a small city, yet our regular expenditure is substantial—and it will continue to grow unless we face extreme circumstances,” he told the Legislative Assembly this week.
This year’s regular government expenditure is projected at MOP115 billion (US$14.36 billion), while gaming tax revenue is forecast at MOP93.1 billion (US$11.59 billion), accounting for 81 percent of total income.
In the first quarter of 2025, Macau’s gaming revenue rose just 0.6 percent year-on-year to MOP57.66 billion (US$7.19 billion), or MOP19.2 billion (US$2.39 billion) per month—falling short of the government’s full-year forecast of MOP240 billion (US$29.76 billion), or MOP20 billion (US$2.48 billion) per month.
