VIP baccarat proved to be less popular across the first three months of 2019, with GGR that fell 13.4% year-on-year. It accounted for just 48.86% of Macau’s casino GGR for the quarter, compared to 53.32% in the previous quarter.
Mass-market GGR, including GGR from slot machines, was $4.82 billion compared to the $4.15 billion in the first quarter of 2018. This accounted for a 51.14% stake of the overall casino GGR for the period, the first time mass market GGR has taken the lead.
Mass-market baccarat grew 19.5% year-on-year, reaching almost $3.7 billion and accounting for a 39.24% market share. During the same period last year, it accounted for about $3.09 billion of the city’s GGR.
GGR from slot machines decreased by 2.3% in the quarter to $461.7 million, accounting for 4.9% of the first-quarter revenue. Live multi game products, such as electronic table games with live deals, saw an uptick of 6.6% year-on-year to $82.3 million.
In the first quarter of the year, there were 6,624 live-dealer gaming tables in Macau, an increase of 36 from the last quarter of 2018. The DICJ had fulfilled previous agreements to allow more tables at a small number of venues, resulting in the uptick. However, the number of slot machines fell by 0.5% year-on-year to stand at 17,122. Despite the year-on-year decline, the number was 6.6% higher than the 16,059 seen in the last quarter of 2018.
In January, Macau registered its first monthly year-on-year decline in the past 30 months after GGR fell 5% to $3.08 billion. February saw an improvement, with GGR increasing by 4.4% year-on-year, but March brought a dip of 0.4%. Another decline is expected for April, with some analysts predicting a drop of more than 10%.