The mass market is playing an increasingly important role in Macao’s gaming industry, edging out the VIP sector, according to the latest figures from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ).
VIP’s share of gross gaming revenues, as indicated by VIP baccarat, fell to 32.5 per cent last year, compared to 43 per cent in 2020. Mass market gaming such as table games and slots pulled in 67.5 per cent of the total.
Altogether, the city’s casinos reported that VIP baccarat drew MOP 28.4 billion in 2021, 8.4 per cent less than the previous year. In sharp contrast, the mass market generated MOP 34.7 billion, a 70 per cent increase year-on-year.
The DICJ noted that 2021 generated MOP 86.8 billion in gross gaming results, 60 per cent up on 2020 when the industry felt the full force of the Covid-19 epidemic. While the first quarter of last year VIP baccarat brought in MOP 9.1 billion, by the end of the year it had fallen to MOP 4.8 billion.
Following a clampdown on junkets – once a mainstay of Macao’s casinos – and increased oversight of financial dealings by mainland authorities, VIP gaming results in the city have suffered severe setbacks.
