Macau Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said Thursday that the government will maintain its 2023 gross gaming revenue forecast of MOP$130 billion (US$16 billion).
“This year’s budget states that gross gaming revenue is MOP$130 billion, and the average monthly gross gaming revenue need to be more than MOP$10 billion,” Ho said. “The government will not revise this forecast for the time being and hopes that all sectors of the community will work hard to achieve this figure.”
He also noted that Macau’s economy is starting to show signs of recovery and it is important to wait and see the prevailing economic situation.
The government initially estimated GGR for 2023 at MOP$130 billion when announcing its budget in November. This forecast was exactly the same as in each of the past two years, although the real GGR figure fell well short in both 2021 and 2022.
In 2021, GGR reached MOP$86.9 billion (US$10.8 billion) before falling to just MOP$42.2 billion (US$5.2 billion) in 2022. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic in Macau, GGR was MOP$60.5 billion (US$7.5 billion).
However, since 8 January 2023, visitors to Macau from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan no longer have to be tested for COVID-19 while foreign visitors are exempt from quarantine.
Investment bank JP Morgan said in a recent note that GGR for the first eight days of January had reached MOP$2.1 billion (US$261 million) – around 30% of 2019 levels and a significant improvement on GGR levels in 4Q22.
