Macau’s 20 casinos generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) of 18.5 billion patacas (US$2.29 billion) last month, marking a year-on-year decline of 12.1 percent, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) announced today.
Analysts had predicted a GGR decline of up to 20 percent due to betting on the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches, which started on June 11 and will end on July 19.
Month-on-month, June’s GGR dropped by 18.1 percent, from May’s 22.6 billion patacas.
June produced the local casino sector’s lowest monthly GGR in the first six months of the year and its first year-on-year negative growth rate.
However, in the first half of the year GGR still rose year-on-year by 6.8 percent to 126.9 billion patacas.
Macau’s government-concessioned gaming industry is operated by six rival integrated resort (IR) operators: Sands, Galaxy, SJM, Melco, Wynn, and MGM. Under their concession agreements with the government, they are required to enhance their non-gaming attractions and support the promotion of Macau’s cultural heritage and old-quarter renewal projects. The operators pay 35 percent of their GGR as a direct gaming tax to the government, along with an additional 5.0 percent in levies to fund a raft of public causes.
Currently, the six operators own a total of 20 casinos, a 52.4 percent decrease from the peak of 42 casinos in 2021. This decline is primarily due to a government-ordered consolidation of the gaming industry, which included an official ban on so-called “satellite casinos” operated by third-party enterprises, generally known as junkets, in collaboration with gaming concessionaires.
During the gaming industry’s three-year consolidation process, which officially ended on December 31, 2025, the gaming tables and slot machines from shuttered satellite casinos, along with their local employees, were transferred to casinos directly run by the six gaming concessionaires.
Currently, SJM and Sands own five casinos each, Galaxy and Melco operate three each, while Wynn and MGM run two each.
According to the latest available DICJ statistics, baccarat accounted for 85.2 percent of local casinos' GGR across their 16 games of chance at the end of this year’s first quarter. In comparison, roulette, Europe’s classic game of chance, generated a mere 0.49 percent of GGR.
At the end of the first quarter, Macau’s casinos operated 6,000 gaming tables and 12,000 gaming machines, according to the inspectorate overseeing the city’s “dragon-head” industry.
Macau’s officially licensed casino industry got off the ground in 1849.
According to the latest available data from the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC), the number of persons engaged in the gaming sector amounted to 53,272 at the end of last year, accounting for 10.7 percent of Macau’s total labour force of 496,600 around that time (Dec 2025-Feb 2026).
In December last year, according to DSEC figures, the average earnings (excluding irregular remuneration) of the gaming sector’s full-time employees stood at 28,020 patacas.
