Operator News
China – Concerts and residencies helping drive mass gaming in Macau
By Phil - 19 June 2023
Analysts at JP Morgan have detailed the role being played by high-profile concerts at Macau’s casinos in helping drive a recovery in the mass market casino sector.
Analysts DS Kim and Mufan Shi said GGR for the first 18 days of June hit US$1.18bn, amounting to S$65m a day with live concerts, including the residency of Jacky Cheung at The Venetian’s Cotai Arena, K-pop group BlackPink at Galaxy Arena and Leon Lai at Studio City.
They said the Jacky Cheung residency ‘in particular ‘continues to attract the right type of (high-value) players, including those from the database of Sands’ sister property MBS, which in turn helps to lift overall industry GGR.’
Kim and Shi added: “These entertainment events do seem to move the needle for gaming business in Macau – at least thus far – which bodes well for Macau’s mass business to recover (well) beyond pre-COVID levels, in our view. The month-to-date trends suggest our June GGR forecast of US$1.74bn to US$1.8bn, or US$58m to US$60m per day, may prove too conservative, and we wouldn’t be surprised if June bucks the weak seasonality to print better than US$62m per day. This also means casinos will see strong 2Q results that should continue to beat consensus, with mass GGR and EBITDA recovering over 80 per cent and 65 per cent of pre-COVID levels.”
