Macau’s May casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) could achieve circa 6 percent growth month-on-month, says brokerage CLSA Ltd.
“We forecast May gross gaming revenue at MOP19.7 billion [US$2.45 billion],” stated CLSA analysts Jeffrey Kiang and Leo Pan, in a Friday memo.
April GGR was just under MOP18.55 billion, which itself had been down 4.9 percent from March.
“We regard [MOP19.7 billion] as achievable” in May, “which implies 6 percent month-on-month growth” from April, stated the CLSA team, adding that market consensus had been for 7 percent sequential growth in monthly GGR.
CLSA’s outlook update came in a Friday note, prior to news that aggregate visitor volume to Macau had been about 8 percent below a Macau government forecast for the five-day mainland China holiday that started from Labour Day on Wednesday, May 1.
Nonetheless, the institution observed that when its team visited Macau on Thursday, it observed “heavy foot traffic” in a number of Cotai and downtown properties, namely “Grand Lisboa Palace, MGM Cotai, The Londoner [Macao], Four Seasons [Macao], The Venetian [Macao], Grand Lisboa, MGM Macau and Wynn Macau, including the gaming floor”.
CLSA added: “The most commonly seen minimum bets on baccarat tables were [equal to] MOP1,000 (US$125), and MOP1,500 (US$187).
“In high-roller rooms, minimum bets ranged from MOP3,000 (US$373) to MOP10,000 (US$1,246),” wrote the brokerage.