The recovery process continues in Macau as gaming operators have recorded their best week since the early days in 2020 during Golden Week this month. Gross gaming revenues came in at around 50% of the levels the region saw before the COVID-19 pandemic. JP Morgan analysts provided insight into the recovery, noting that the figures are ‘broadly satisfactory.”

Golden Week Growth

In a recent note, JP Morgan analysts Derek Choi, DS Kim, and Livy Lyu, stated the higher numbers in Macau were due to an increase in the mass segment. Visitation levels during Golden Week this year reached only 25% of the same totals from May 2019. However, the GGR was higher, at between 40 to 50% from the same time frame.

Mass GGR recovery came in at 60-70% while VIP was at 20-25%. For luxury retail sales, the totals were back to the levels seen previous to the pandemic. Some even saw double-digit growth. Over the past week, it appears as though the daily gross gaming revenue run rate comes in at MOP$400 million to MOP$500 million ($50 million to $62.5 million).

All signs point to Macau seeing a higher May gross gaming revenue total than expected.

April Totals Were Strong

Earlier this month, the revenue totals for April were provided, showing how the economic recovery process continues in Macau. The region earned MOP$8.4 billion ($1.05 billion) for the month which was a 1.1% increase from March totals.

The numbers were still lower than the pre-pandemic revenues in April 2019, but the region is slowly getting back to normal. In April, the revenues were the largest that Macau had seen since January of 2020.

From January to March, Macau earned MOP$32.0 billion ($4.0 billion) in GGR. This is a slight 2.6% increase from the same time frame in 2020.

Grand Lisboa Palace Ready to Open

On top of an increase in revenue totals, Macau will soon see the Grand Lisboa Palace property open for business. The company announced a few days ago that the property will be open before June comes to an end.

The casino project first started in February 2014, so the opening of the venue is long-awaited. The property will be home to a 300 room hotel along with boutique hotels to come. The casino is 290,000 square feet in size, which is quite large for a gambling facility. It will be home to just over 1,000 slot games and more than 300 table games. The number of table games will increase later by as many as 200 to cater to the mass and VIP markets.

The opening of the venue should help to build revenues in Macau as the recovery effort continues.