Macau Diversification Continues, Resorts Becoming Major Concert Destination
Posted on: August 8, 2025, 09:42h.
Last updated on: August 8, 2025, 09:57h.
- Macau casinos continue to invest in nongaming lures
- Macau is becoming a major concert destination in Asia
- Many A-list K-pop acts are playing Macau
Macau’s six casino operators continue to diversify their operations to attract more nongamblers, families, and leisure travelers.
Westerners dub Macau as the “Las Vegas of the East,” though the Chinese gambling hub generated more than three times the amount of casino revenue the Las Vegas Strip did last year. Macau has historically been much more centered on high-stakes casino gambling, with baccarat the game of choice, than Las Vegas, a town that today relies heavily on convention, sports, and other nongaming travelers.
Macau is following Las Vegas’ trend in changing from a gambling-first locale in favor of marketing to a wider group of people.
China forced out most junket groups during the pandemic, resulting in many fewer VIPs gambling in high-roller rooms. In 2022, in exchange for 10-year extensions of their gaming privileges, the six companies holding table game and slots concessions were also required to invest many billions of dollars into their resorts in nongaming projects.
Being forced to focus on the general public, once viewed as the possible downfall of Macau and its many glitzy, five-star luxury properties, has surprised many with a different, positive result.
Gaming revenue is up 6.5% year over year through July, and visitation numbers are almost back to 2019 levels. It comes less than three years after Chinese President Xi Jinping finally lifted his controversial “zero-COVID” policy that had kept travel and an economic recovery start in the world’s second most-populated country on standstill.
Concert Mecca
GGRAsia, an online media outlet focused on Asian gaming markets, reported Friday that Macau casino resorts are hosting at least 32 major entertainment performances this month. Most are concerts, with K-pop and Mando-pop headliners.
Notable acts playing Macau this month include Ekin Cheng (MGM Cotai), i-dle (Sands China), Kara (Studio City), and Lee Jun-young (Grand Lisboa Palace). Twice is set to play The Venetian Macau in September.
Macau’s casinos agreed to invest $16 million in nongaming in 2022. Some of the money allocations have gone to entertainment facilities and the marketing of the performances.
Macau’s Special Administrative Region Government is also helping to assist in bringing more nongamblers to the enclave. The government is in the early stages of building a large-scale outdoor amphitheater south of SJM Resorts’ Grand Lisboa Palace. The facility will be able to accommodate 50K people.
Investments Continue
Earlier this year, before Macau’s casino comeback solidified, local government officials questioned whether the six concessionaires were following through with their nongaming investment pledges. Tai Kin Ip, Macau’s secretary for economy and finance, assured lawmakers that the agency was monitoring the “investment situation.”
During its second-quarter earnings call this week, Wynn Resorts, the parent organization of Wynn Macau Ltd., announced the company would invest up to $250 million in renovations at Wynn Macau on the peninsula and Wynn Palace on the Cotai Strip.
Along with the resort upgrades, which will primarily focus on room overhauls, Wynn Macau plans to construct and open an events center on the Cotai Strip. Company officials told investors and analysts that the firm is “well underway” with the design of the mixed-use space.
“It will allow us to program great entertainment and drive visitation,” said Wynn Resorts CEO Craig Billings.
No comments yet