April gross gaming revenues pick up steam in Macao

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As a major holiday period wraps up Wednesday in Macao, gross gaming revenue for the area has picked up steam.

Macao’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau reported Saturday that the region’s casinos collected $1.05 billion (U.S.) in April compared with $94.3 million (U.S.) in April 2020, a 1,014.4 percent increase.

It was the highest monthly revenue level since January 2020.

For the first four months of 2021, casinos won $4 billion billion compared with $3.9 billion in 2020, a 2.6 percent increase.

That’s good news for three Las Vegas casino companies with operations in Macao: market leader Las Vegas Sands Corp., Wynn Resorts Ltd. and MGM Resorts International.

Maco’s casinos were anticipating an 80 percent occupancy rate for a holiday known as Golden Week.

“We think the presently underway May Golden Week, a five-day holiday that started May 1 and lasts through May 5, is the next big demand data point to monitor,” J.P. Morgan gaming analyst Joe Greff said in a report to investors. “We are encouraged by recent earnings conference call commentary (likely 80+ percent occupancy for the market with most premium hotels full and visitor momentum gaining).”

But Carlo Santarelli, a gaming analyst with the New York office of Deutsche Bank, pointed out that there’s still room to improve to market averages.

The April gross gaming revenue result represented a 1.1 percent sequential improvement, relative to March, and a 4.5 percent sequential improvement in GGR per day, relative to March. The gross gaming revenue result for April represents a 64 percent shortfall relative to the GGR achieved in April of 2019,” Santarelli said in a note to investors.

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Sheldon Adelson, the late chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Las Vegas Sands operates six properties in Macao.

rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.