Although Macau’s gaming industry showed improvement in February 2025, CreditSights analysts noted that the 7 percent year-on-year growth signals a return to normal growth levels after the sharp 79 percent increase in February 2024. This trend is expected to continue throughout 2025.
Analysts at CreditSights forecasted this turnaround, with data now showing a 7 percent year-on-year growth, compared to a 6 percent decline in January 2025. February’s GGR reached MOP19.7 billion ($2.45 billion), an 8 percent month-on-month increase and about 78 percent of February 2019 levels, according to data from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ).
David Bussey and Nicholas Chen, analysts at CreditSights, explained, ‘The increase in GGR is a sign of recovery, fueled by higher visitor arrivals during the latter half of the Chinese New Year holiday period. The longer tail of post-CNY visitors also contributed to the better-than-expected results.’
During the second half of the Chinese New Year (CNY) period, particularly from January 31st to February 4th, visitor arrivals surged. For example, on February 4th, visitor numbers jumped 28 percent year-on-year, driven largely by mainland Chinese tourists. These strong figures helped fuel the GGR growth for the month.
Gaming revenue per visitor up 12%
Visitor numbers to Macau showed mixed results in February 2025. Total arrivals fell slightly by 4 percent year-on-year to 3.1 million, with a 6 percent decrease in visitors from Greater China. This decline was partly due to the shorter CNY holiday window this year (only four days in February, compared to eight days in 2024).
However, international tourism grew, with arrivals from South Korea (+42 percent), Japan (+26 percent), Thailand (+26 percent), and other countries showing solid growth.
Despite the overall drop in visitors, GGR per visitor increased by 12 percent year-on-year, reaching MOP6,274 ($781) in February 2025, up from MOP5,613 ($699) in February 2024. This increase suggests that the visitors arriving in February were more likely to be high-spending casino-goers from wealthier regions, contributing to the higher average gaming revenue per visitor.
Year-to-date GGR lags government target
CreditSights analysts project a more stable and normalized growth trajectory for Macau’s gaming industry in 2025. Year-to-date (YTD) total GGR stood at MOP 38 billion ($4.73 billion), representing a modest 0.5 percent year-on-year growth, and about 16 percent of the Macau SAR Government’s forecasted GGR of MOP240 billion ($29.9 billion) for 2025. Notably, this slightly lags behind the government’s projected growth of 6 percent year-on-year for the year.
Despite this, analysts remain optimistic about the recovery. As analysts stated, ‘Although growth has slowed from the highs of 2024, the gaming sector remains on solid footing and should continue its gradual recovery as visitation patterns normalize.’
