Mass market baccarat continues to dominate the Macau gaming landscape, with figures published by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau showing it contributed MOP$20.51 billion (US$2.54 billion) in gross gaming revenues in the first three months of the year – comprising 58.9% of market-wide GGR.
While this was slightly down on the 62.9% contribution in 4Q22 – albeit from a much smaller sample size given borders were still restricted at that time – it was considerably higher than 2019 when mass baccarat’s MOP$29.61 billion (US$3.66 billion) represented 39.1% of all GGR.
By comparison, GGR from VIP baccarat of MOP$8.57 billion (US$1.06 billion) in 1Q23 represented 24.6% of Macau-wide GGR, down from MOP$37.21 billion (US$4.60 billion) and 48.7% of GGR in 1Q19.
Total GGR for 1Q23, which was the first quarter since border restrictions were dropped on 8 January, was MOP$34.81 billion (US$4.30 billion), the DICJ said.
The changing face of Macau’s gaming market comes in the wake of mainland China’s war on cross-border gambling and the collapse of Macau’s junket industry following the arrests of former Suncity Group CEO Alvin Chau in November 2021 and Tak Chun Group CEO Levo Chan in January 2022.
The Macau government has also updated its junket law, with each junket now only permitted to work with one concessionaire, unable to operate their own VIP rooms within casinos and not permitted to engage in revenue share agreements with operators.
As reported by IAG, the number of licensed junkets in 2023 has fallen to 36 – down from, down from 46 a year earlier and from a high of 235 in 2013.
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