Sands China and Galaxy Entertainment Group controlled about 41.8 percent of the total Macau gross gaming revenue (GGR) generated by the city’s six gaming concessionaires in the first quarter of 2024, while the remaining four concessionaires having all increased their respective market shares from the same quarter last year.
According to data compiled by Deutsche Bank, in the first quarter of 2023 both Sands China and GEG held about 45.7 percent of the, at the time, ‘Big Six’ total GGR of $4.2 billion, a share of the cake that has now dropped by 3.9 percent, with that slice divided up between the other four operators.
Among the market share gainers, MGM China reported the largest market share increase (+1.7 percent) followed by Wynn Macau, SJM (+0.9 percent), and Melco Resorts & Entertainment (+0.4 percent).
By the end of the first quarter, the now $7 billion GGR share held by each of the six gaming operators in Macau from top to bottom was the following:
- Sands (24.2 percent)
- Galaxy (17.6 percent)
- MGM China (17.1 percent)
- Melco (14.4 percent)
- Wynn (14.2 percent)
- SJM (12.6 percent)
Deutsche Bank analysts Carlo Santarelli and Steven Pizzella also underlined that the first quarter of 2024 marked significant growth for Macau’s casino industry, with notable increases in both the mass and VIP gaming segments.
Overall, Macau’s GGR for the first quarter surged by 66 percent year-on-year to $7.1 billion, with mass GGR, which includes slot machine revenue (and premium mass), growing by approximately 65 percent year-on-year to $6.2 billion, while VIP GGR increased by 68 percent year-on-year to $900 million.
Despite this robust growth, when comparing these figures to 2019 mass GGR in the first quarter of 2024 was up 10 percent compared to the same period in 2019, while VIP GGR saw a significant decline, down 61 percent from 2019 levels.
Consequently, the aggregate GGR for the first quarter remained 25 percent below the levels seen in the first quarter of 2019.
The Deutsche Bank dispatch posited that, barring seasonal variations and hold rate fluctuations, the Macau VIP segment has largely stabilized at its new baseline.
‘As Macau continues to navigate its new competitive environment, these shifts in market share and the growth dynamics between the mass and VIP segments will be crucial indicators of future trends in the region’s gaming industry,’ the analysts added.
