The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau has released the casino gross gaming revenues (GGR), for Macau, with April totals seeing an increase year-on-year of 27.6%. The regulator reported that April brought in MOP25.73 billion or US$3.18 billion.

With the April totals, the GGR for Macau was up to MOP102.24 billion for the first four months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 22.2%. According to GGRAsia, Brokerage Union Gaming Securities Asia Ltd analyst Grant Goversten commented on the recent growth by stating:

“The growth came despite an unfavorable calendar with one fewer Saturday and was against a relatively tough comp of +16 percent. On a GGR per day basis, April’s MOP858 million was impressively in line with both of the recent holiday months: October (Golden week) at MOP859 million and the combined Jan/Feb (Chinese New Year) at MOP857 million.”

The firm is now reportedly forecasting that the GGR for the second quarter will accelerate to +22% and +17% GGR for the year. Deutsche Bank Securities also feels the casino sector will see an improved performance, with a forecast from last moth revealing an expected increase from April to June. The brokerage firm has changed their 14.2% GGR forecast at the beginning of April to 15.3 percent for the second quarter.

In March, Macau casinos saw an increase in gambling revenues by 22.2% with $3.2 billion in earnings. Now with April seeing gains as well, it marks almost two years of consistent gaming revenues gains in the region. February was also a good month, but revenues were up only 5.7%, lower than expected, especially considering the Lunar New Year holiday during this time.