Last month reportedly saw the over 30 casinos in Macau record a 4.4% increase year-on-year in aggregated gross gaming revenues to $3.13 billion thanks in large part to a 26.6% rise in the number of those who had visited the city to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Disappointing comparison:

According to a report from GGRAsia citing official figures from the enclave’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, the most recent result means that the former Portuguese enclave’s casinos have now accumulated aggregated gross gaming revenues of just over $6.22 billion for 2019, which represents a year-on-year drop of almost 0.5%.

Inferior January:

The result for last month also came after January saw aggregated gross revenues in Macau register their first year-on-year decline since July of 2016 owing to a slightly over 5% comparable decrease for the 31-day period to $3.08 billion.

Problematic contrast:

The local branch of global brokerage firm, Sanford C Bernstein Limited and Company, claimed that the first two months of 2019 represented a ‘flat year-on-year’ period in terms of aggregated gross gaming revenues and had established ‘a difficult year-on-year comparison’ due to the fact that the same phase in 2018 had seen comparable growth of around 20%.

Mass-market stability:

Grant Govertsen, an analyst with Union Gaming Securities Asia Limited, explained that February’s aggregated gross gaming revenues had only been helped by the mass-market segment, which likely chalked up growth percentage rates in the ‘low double digits.’

Govertsen added…

“The timing of Chinese New Year should have, in theory, benefited this year. Based on our on-the-ground observations and given robust foot traffic trends, it appears that mass-market came through for operators and growth of this segment likely remains in the low double digits.”