Macau’s gaming sector spent less in 2019, with total expenditure dropping 6.7% for the year to MOP$117.79 billion (US$14.76 billion) on declines in the purchase of goods, as well as commissions paid and customer rebates in the VIP and premium gaming segments.
According to the Macau SAR Government’s 2019 Gaming Sector Survey, published by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) onFriday, the lower expenditure came despite an increase in operating expenses which grew 1.8% year-on-year to MOP$31.95 billion (US$4.0 billion). Those operating expenses included a 3.5% increase in complimentary goods and services provided to customers, such as hotel accommodation and F&B, to MOP$16.89 billion (US$2.12 billion), and management and contractual services by 8.1% to MOP$6.38 billion (US$799.2 million).
Employee compensation paid grew 0.7% to MOP$22.53 billion (US$2.82 billion), while market research and publicity expenditure declined 17.7% to MOP$3.54 billion (US$443.5 million). Non-operating expenses grew 69.3% to MOP$6.88 billion (US$861.9 million)due to a significant increase in interest paid.
The study also found that Gross Value Added by the gaming sector in 2019 grew 0.3% year-on-year to MOP$205.06 billion (US$25.69 billion).
Gross Surplus of the sector rose 0.3% to MOP$182.52 billion, with Gross Surplus Ratio rising by 2.4 percentage points year-on-year to 62.2% and Gross Surplus-Expenditure Ratio by 15.6 percentage points to 164.6%, “indicating a significant increase in cost-effectiveness of the sector.”
Total receipts of the sector declined 2.8% year-on-year to MOP$296.09 billion (US$33.71 billion) with GGR confirmed to have fallen 3.5% to MOP$292.34 billion (US$36.62 billion).
