Macau’s casinos generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) of 22.156 billion patacas (US$2.779 billion) last month, a year-on-year increase of 12.2 percent, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) announced today.
Last month’s GGR reached a post-pandemic record. In January 2020, when COVID-19 began to impact Macau’s gaming sector, GGR amounted to 22.126 billion patacas.
Month-on-month, last month's GGR rose by 0.14 percent from the 22.125 billion patacas recorded in July.
In the first eight months of the year, GGR rose by 7.2 percent year-on-year to 163.052 billion patacas.
Macau’s government-concessioned gaming industry is run by six rival integrated resort (IR) operators: Sands, Galaxy, SJM, Melco, Wynn, and MGM. Under their concession agreements with the government, the IR operators are required to strengthen their non-gaming attractions and support Macau’s cultural heritage promotion and old-quarter renewal projects. The operators pay 35 percent of their GGR as direct gaming tax to the government, in addition to a further 5.0 percent in levies for funding a range of public causes. However, the gaming law, amended in 2022, allows the government to reduce these additional levies (officially termed "contributions") for various reasons, such as when operators expand their foreign client markets or face unforeseen adverse developments affecting their business operations.
In the first half of the year, according to the latest available official gaming statistics, baccarat generated 84.7 percent of local casinos' GGR across their 16 games of chance. Gaming machines produced 5.7 percent of GGR in the first six months, while roulette, Europe's classic game of chance, generated a mere 0.47 percent.
