MACAU BUSINESS
surpass the 2019 tally, according to an estimate by the country’s gaming regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor). With regards to Macau, the city “is making headlines for
all the right reasons,” with “a strong start for 2023 and each month topping the previous month.” Gross gaming revenue in the SAR for the first four
months of 2023 reached MOP49.36 billion (US$6.12 billion), surpassing the aggregate figure from the whole year 2022 (MOP 42.19 billion). April alone (MOP14.72 billion) already accounted for 64
percent of what was recorded in the last full pre-COVID month of December 2019 (MOP22.83 billion). “The strong demand for entertainment from all around
the world really points to a robust global recovery,” Mr. Miller added. The Chinese source market remains crucial, according to
a number of experts. Macau and Singapore are benefiting from being able to tap into the fact that competing jurisdictions in Asia have yet to be fully reopened to mainland Chinese customers, a “critically important customer base” for any casino destination in the region. “We have seen a lot of optimistic numbers in Macau and Singapore. This is partly due to pent-up demand for the last two years [of the pandemic], while the other factor lies in the gaming jurisdictions taking advantage over the other jurisdictions in the region that haven’t fully opened up [for Chinese customers],” said gaming analyst Daniel Cheng at a panel. Macau was the last market in the region to reopen
post-COVID-19, in January, but it quickly managed to regain its status not only as the top casino jurisdiction in Asia but also surpassing the whole of Nevada in terms of gross gaming revenue in the first quarter of 2023, despite accounting for only about half of pre-COVID levels (2019). Another seasoned expert in the field, Vitaly Umansky,
conversations, alongside the sustained strong performance of other markets such as Singapore’s or the Philippines. Prospective gaming jurisdictions such as Japan and Thailand were also notably featured in the three-day event. “There are plenty of reasons for us to be optimistic
about the future. If the [post-COVID] comeback in Asia looks something like what the comeback in the United States has been, we are all in for a very exciting period of time,” said Bill Miller, president of AGA, co-organizer of G2E Asia Singapore Special Edition, which is being held at Marina Bay Sands. Data gathered by AGA indicates that total commercial gaming revenue reached an all-time high of US$60.4 billion in 2022, 38.5 percent higher than 2019. Mr. Miller pointed to the pace of recovery witnessed in the Philippines, where gaming revenue this year may
agrees that the key driver behind Macau’s advantage over the past few months over the competition is that “one of the benefits is that Chinese travellers can easily get into Macau, whether it is because of visas or the cost of travel.” For the other jurisdictions, being able to welcome back a mass influx of Chinese gamblers will be key, as the mainland market is “a critically important customer base” for “every operator in Asia.” The question, Umansky points out, “is going to be around how quickly that customer is able to come back and if there are future impediments from a regulatory perspective within China.” Also sharing their views at the “Emerging Markets
Roundtable” were top executives from casino operators in Vietnam and the Philippines. Hakan Dagtas, chief operating officer at Manila’s
Newport World Resorts, said they are looking forward to welcoming back a sizeable influx of Chinese customers, noting that in 2019, Chinese accounted for some 47 percent of the 6 million tourist arrivals in the Philippines. “We are really dependent on the Chinese to increase our revenue.” Even without effective access to the Chinese market, the Philippines’ gaming market managed to generate PHP 184.00 billion (US$3.3 billion) in 2022, over 70 percent of 2019.
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