Macau Casinos Start 2025 Slowly, January Gaming Revenue Totals Less Than $2.3B

Posted on: February 3, 2025, 09:13h. 

Last updated on: February 3, 2025, 09:57h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Macau casinos began the year slowly, as January gaming revenue came in soft.

Macau casino revenue GGR gaming China
Guests check in at The Parisian Macau, which is owned and operated by Las Vegas Sands’ Chinese subsidiary. Macau casinos reported soft play in January, as gaming revenue retracted nearly 6% from January 2024. (Image: Shutterstock)

Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau reports that gross gaming revenue (GGR) in January totaled MOP18.25 billion (US$2.27 billion), a year-over-year drop of almost 6%. The January mark represented a 0.3% uptick from December.

January’s softness wasn’t entirely unexpected, though the decline exceeded analyst expectations. JP Morgan forecasted a year-over-year GGR reduction of up to 4%, while the actual loss came in at 5.6%.

Analysts said January 2024 presented a difficult comparable for January 2025, as high VIP baccarat volumes and solid hold rates resulted in a strong opening month last year. Market observers reported softer play in the high-roller rooms and more typical house hold last month.

Macau is home to dozens of casinos run by six gaming operators — Sands, Galaxy, Wynn, MGM, Melco, and SJM. Macau, a Special Administrative Region of China, is the only place under the People’s Republic’s control where slot machines and table games are allowed.

A state-run traditional lottery and sports lottery are available on the mainland.

2025 Chinese New Year 

Despite a soft January, analysts say the odds are good that Macau’s gaming industry will continue its comeback in 2025. February will benefit from the 2025 Chinese New Year, which began on Wednesday, January 29.

Also called the Spring Festival, the Chinese New Year celebrates the start of the lunisolar Chinese calendar and provides most workers with a week off. The Chinese government has designated the eight-day holiday for January 28 through Tuesday, February 4.

2025 is the “Year of the Snake,” the sixth of the 12-year cycle of animals that appear in the Chinese zodiac. In Chinese symbology, snakes are considered intelligent but with a lack of scruples, or a moral consideration of acts that would inhibit certain actions.

Can Macau Casinos Return to 2019 Levels?

The JP Morgan team reported a soft second half in January as many visitors presumably stayed home on the mainland in anticipation of the New Year holiday.  

According to our checks, there was a very noticeable pre-holiday slowdown this year, with a lull in traffic particularly affecting large properties,” wrote JP Morgan analysts DS Kim, Mufan Shi, and Selina Li.

Macau’s six casino operators won about $28.3 billion from gamblers in 2024. The year marked the Chinese casino hub’s second year of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, which lingered into late 2022 because Chinese President Xi Jinping maintained his controversial “zero-COVID” response.

The 2024 tally represented 77.5% of 2019 GGR that totaled $36.3 billion.

JP Morgan expects February GGR to grow between 3% to 5% to bring the first two months of 2025 back to “flattish” compared with 2024. The brokerage projects full-year 2025 GGR to grow around 5% to mark a third year of recovery.

For Macau’s gaming operators to regain the outstanding 22.5%, they’ll need to continue to grow mass market visitation and play after most VIP junket groups fled the region amid a changing regulatory landscape directed by Xi. The JP Morgan trio said January’s GGR indicated a “110%-plus” recovery in mass play versus just 20% in VIP compared with pre-COVID levels.