New figures released by the Gaming Inspection And Coordination Bureau show that the casino industry in Macau is continuing its recent recovery after it posted a third consecutive month-on-month increase in gross gaming revenues.
The regulator reported that October saw the enclave’s over 30 casinos report total gross gaming revenues of just in excess of $2.73 billion, which represented an increase of 8.8% or almost $220 million more than for the same month last year.
The Gaming Inspection And Coordination Bureau revealed that the October result represented the best month for Macau’s casinos since January of 2015 when gross gaming revenues totaled $2.98 billion and marked only the third time in the previous 29 months that year-on-year takings had not contracted.
The recovery began in August when gross gaming revenues in Macau improved by 1.1% year-on-year to reach $2.35 billion before continuing in September with a 7.4% improvement to just short of $2.31 billion. For the ten months to the end of October, the industry has reported total takings of nearly $23.11 billion, which represents a drop of some 5.8% when compared with 2015.
“Overall indications, both anecdotal and quantitative, continue to suggest that the Macau market is improving,” analysts David Katz and Brian Davis from research firm Telsey Advisory Group reported in a note cited by GGRAsia.
Referring to the $4.1 billion Wynn Palace Cotai?from Wynn Resorts Limited, which opened for business in August, as well as the inauguration in October by Las Vegas Sands Corporation of its $2.5 billion The Parisian Macao, the pair declared that recent trends denote that the new properties are “indicating strong volumes and performance”.
Lionel Leong Vai Tac, Economy And Finance Secretary for Macau, proclaimed in early-June that his office was sticking with a previous prediction that casinos in the former Portuguese colony would bring in annual gross gaming revenues for 2016 of $25.03 billion.