Macau’s largest casinos v Live online casinos

Around this time last year we posed the question, how big are the biggest live casinos?

Using number of available tables as the measure of size, and comparing against the biggest casinos in Las Vegas for some perspective, the short answer to the question was big. 888 live casino’s 375 available tables was almost twice as many as the Las Vegas’ Wynn/Encore combined offering of 180.

12 months on, you’ll still find 180 tables at Wynn/Encore. But the count at 888, (and competing big brand operators) has increased substantially.

Live casino size is a function of how many live game providers they have on board, and how big those providers are. Over the last year casinos have been enthusiastically adding more providers. At the same time providers have been expanding their studio capacity and table range – Evolution and Pragmatic Play in particular.

‘Big 3’ peak time table availability

A bunch of live casinos now carry tables from all the big 3 providers (Evo, Pragmatic and Playtech).

888, Betvictor, Bwin, Party Casino, and Betsson are all in this cohort.

Peak time all-access table range (excluding game shows)

TABLES	EVOLUTION	PRAGMATIC	PLAYTECH
Roulette	35	20	30
Blackjack	200	100	35
Baccarat/DragonTiger/Sicbo	60	30	28
Poker/other	11		7
Total	300+	150	100

This means at peak times these casinos are offering around 550 all-access tables. Add to this their exclusive table range (most now carry multiple exclusive areas). Add also smaller offerings from other providers.

Bottom line – you can access over 600 tables playing each of these live casinos.

How does this compare to the biggest land based casinos in the world?

Macau casino table allocation from 2023

While Macau’s casinos are a little opaque on exactly how many tables they operate, what is clear is how many tables each of the 6 concessionaires is permitted to operate across all properties.

In August last year, the Macau government set a new gaming table cap to apply during the concession period beginning 1 January 2023. A total of 6,000 tables are now allowed, down from 6,925 in the previous period.  This total is allocated across the region’s 6 concessionaires as per the below table.

 

CONCESSIONAIRE	2023 ALLOCATION	PREVIOUS ALLOCATION	CASINO PROPERTIES
Sands	1,680	1,685	Venetian Macau, Sands Macau, Plaza Macau, Londoner Macau, Parisian Macau
SJM	1,250	1,993	13 properties including Grand Lisboa
GEG	1,000	1,079	Galaxy Macau, Casino Waldo, Casino Broadway, Star World
MGM	750	572	MGM Macau, MGM Cotai
Melco	750	964	City of Dreams, Studio City, Grand Dragon, Altira
Wynn	570	670	Wynn Macau, Wynn Palace Cotai
Total Table Cap	6,000	6,925

Macau’s biggest casinos

Again, using number of gaming tables as the measure of size, the three biggest casinos in Macau are:

1. Venetian Macau: 750 tables
   The Venetian’s colossal 5,000 square feet gaming floor is commonly reported to hold 800 tables. Owing to Sands’ reduced table allocation, which is now spread across more casinos than it operated a decade ago 800 is probably an overstatement. But it is still by many metrics the world’s biggest casino.
2. Galaxy Macau: 650 tables
   Galaxy Cotai Mega Resort was big when it launched with 450 tables. It has been expanded since and now houses around 650 tables.
3. City of Dreams: 550 tables
   Melco’s flagship casino City of Dreams claimed at launch to offer 550 tables. Melco’s table allocation across all properties has been cut substantially since then, including a drop of more than 200 for the current concession period. The number in City of Dreams probably closer to 500 now.