Figures released Monday by Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) showed VIP baccarat accounting for MOP 26.6b in the three months ending June 30, down 15.7% from the same period last year.
By comparison, mass market gaming revenue fell a mere 1.1% to MOP 25b. And most of this decline was due to slot machines, which dropped 11.3% to MOP 2.63b, while mass market baccarat revenue actually posted a 0.2% year-on-year gain to MOP 18.65b.
The VIP baccarat share of overall gaming revenue was 51.5%, down from 55.5% in the same period one year ago and from 54.1% in Q1 2016. By contrast, mass market baccarat saw its share rise from to 36.1% from 32.7% last year.
Live multi-game revenue staged a minor comeback in Q2. After falling 11.5% to MOP 504m in Q2 2016, the electronic table revenue rose 11.5% to MOP 562m. The figure is also up slightly from Q1’s MOP 547m.
As for the gaming mix in Macau casinos, the number of live gaming tables was up 3.2% year-to-year to 5,998 while the number of slots fell 3% to 13,766. The table rise is attributable to the opening of Melco Crown Entertainment’s Studio City last October, which was allocated 250 new-to-market tables.
Sports betting via the Macau Slot monopoly enjoyed a Euro 2016 boost, with football revenue up 8.3% to MOP 1.83b, while basketball wagers were up nearly 7% to MOP 453m. Macau’s chronically underperforming horse- and greyhound-racing businesses continued racing to irrelevance, falling 20% to MOP 187m and 31% to MOP 103m, respectively.