Macau's 30 casinos generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) of 183.0 billion patacas (US$22.68 billion) in 2023, a year-on-year growth of 333.8 percent, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DISCJ) has announced today.
In 2022, GGR amounted to 42.19 billion patacas. Macau's vitally important gaming sector was hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic between early 2020 and late 2022.
Last year's GGR accounted 62.6 percent of the one in pre-pandemic 2019, which stood at 292.4 billion patacas.
Last month's GGR rose 433.3 percent year-on-year to 18.5 billion patacas, the second-best month for Macau's gaming industry in 2023, after October's 19.5 billion patacas.
Macau's 30 casinos are run by six rival gaming operators - Galaxy, SJM, Melco, Sands, MGM, and Wynn.
Baccarat has been local casinos' most popular game of chance for decades. In the first three quarters of last year, according to the latest available DICJ figure, baccarat generated 84.8 percent of the sector's GGR, or 109.4 billion patacas. Roulette, European casinos' classic game of chance, generated only 579 million patacas, or 0.4 percent of GGR, in the first nine months of last year.
Macau is China's only jurisdiction where casino operations are legal.
