Macau doing billion dollar days

Macau has unquestionably been the casino gambling success story of the post GFC era. Increases in gross gaming revenue from 2007 to 2011, in the order of 50% to 70% annually, were nothing short of staggering.

2012 was a different story.

There was still growth (very healthy by Western standards), but nothing like preceding years and some months threatened to finish down on the 2011 number.

source: DIJC, figures in million Macau Pataca ( MOP 1 million = $120,000)

There was speculation that a cooling Chinese economy, combined with a threatened crackdown on Macau’s VIP junket market which drives the bulk of revenues (MOP210 billion of the MOP304 billion total in 2012 was from VIP baccarat) may see this slowing trend continue into 2013. Indeed figures in January and February 2013 supported this school of thought. March looks like being a very different story.

Analysts from both RBC Capital and J.P. Morgan tracking Macau gross gaming revenues both put the March end figure at over MOP31 billion. That’s 26% up on March 2012 and a daily average in excess of MOP1 billion.

In Hong Kong Dollar terms $1 billion is dropped inside Macau’s casinos on your average day there!

Sounds like a big number but numbers mean nothing without perspective so lets compare Macau with the next two biggest casino towns in the world…Las Vegas and Singapore. Figures below are in US dollars.

Six times the size of Las Vegas (and growing).

Definitely a big number!