Macau casino revenue posted a year-on-year increase in Q3 2016 despite another decline in the VIP baccarat segment.
Figures released Monday by Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) show overall gaming revenue of MOP 55.2b (US $6.9b) in the three months ending September 30, 3.9% higher than the same period last year, when the market reported a 34.3% year-on-year decline.
This year’s gains came despite VIP baccarat revenue falling 1.2% to MOP 28.6b (US $3.6b). The VIP share of Macau’s overall gross gaming revenue pie came to 52.1%, down from 53.3% in Q3 2015, although it’s a better showing than the low of 51.5% recorded in Q2 2016.
Including slots, mass market gaming revenue totaled MOP 26.4b ($3.3b), a 3.9% year-on-year improvement. Mass market baccarat revenue totaled just under MOP 19.5b, up from MOP 18.6b in Q2. Mass baccarat accounted for roughly 35.4% of the total revenue pie.
Slots revenue totaled MOP 2.84b, a year-on-year decline of around 3.4%. Live multi-game tables – which combine multiple electronic gaming positions with one or two live dealers – continue to represent a small but steadily growing slice of the overall pie at MOP 611m ($76.4m), a 15.7% year-on-year improvement.
The DICJ reported that there were 6,304 live gaming tables in action at the end of Q3, up from 5,819 in the same period last year, reflecting the Q3 openings of Macau’s latest integrated resorts: Sands China’s Parisian Macao and Wynn Resorts’ Wynn Palace. The total number of slots in operation rose 15.1% to 15,769.
As for Macau’s oft-overlooked monopoly sports betting operator Macau Slot, it reported football betting revenue of MOP 138m (US $17.2m), while basketball wagers brought in just under MOP 27m ($3.4m).
