Macau’s VIP market is showing signs of cooling with official data released by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau on Tuesday revealing revenue from VIP baccarat grew 14% to MOP$41.04 billion in the three months to 30 June 2018.
The figure, down 4% from the MOP$42.96 raked in by VIP baccarat in 1Q18, represented significantly slower growth than the segment has enjoyed over the past 12 months, which included a 34.8% increase in 2Q17 and 35.04% increase in 3Q17. VIP revenue for 4Q17 and 1Q18 had grown by 21.9% and 21.0% respectively.
The news was much better on Macau’s mass gaming floors however, where GGR rose 21.0% year-on-year to MOP$32.67 billion – continuing an impressive trend of upwards momentum since the start of 2017. Over the past four quarters starting from 2Q17, Macau’s mass gaming revenue has grown by 8.1%, 7.4%, 17.1% and 19.9%.
Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen described the role reversal between segments as “great news for operators as it has been the backbone of the recovery and is generally less sensitive to political winds.
“That mass outpaced VIP is also an upside surprise relative to most expectations and, trade war fears notwithstanding, is reason to remain bullish on the Macau names,” he added.
Macau’s GGR for the first two quarters was up 18.9% year-on-year to MOP$150.79 billion.
