In the past few weeks, industry experts estimated huge business in Macau’s gaming industry for the month of March.
Those estimates proved to be spot on after Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau released the gross gaming revenue figures the gambling destination earned in the third month of the year. According to the gaming regulator, Macau posted MOP 31.3 billion – $3.9 billion based on current exchange rates – in gross gaming earnings, a staggering increase of 25.4 percent from what it earned in the same period in 2012. A few weeks ago, JP Morgan Kenneth Fong analyst suggested that the number could be in the vicinity of MOP 31.2 billion, an impressive increase that’s attributed to the 15% to 20% growth in the VIP sector.
Spot on, Kenneth Fong.
Equally impressive is the amount Macau has accumulated in gross gaming revenue in the first three months of the year compared to what it achieved back in 2012. From January to March, the gambling town has earned MOP 85.3 billion, an increase of 14.8 percent from what it earned in the first three months of 2012.
Macau’s record-setting March figures is made even more impressive after the town experienced a relative slowdown of sorts, at least for a couple of weeks, back in February stemming from Chinese New Year’s celebrations. At that time, the normally robust high-rolling Chinese VIP market wasn’t showing up in droves in part because it wanted to steer clear of the city during the week-long festivities to signal in the year of the snake.
But since then, the VIPs, the high-rollers, and a whole lot more gamblers have continued to flock Macau, generating record revenues that has the possibility of growing even more as the year progresses. Based on the first three months of the year, it’s pretty safe to say that Macau’s gaming industry is off to a sparkling start.
That’s what happens when business is up by a little over 25 percent in March compared to the numbers it earned during the same time last year.
