Macau casino stocks rallied on Wednesday morning after official data showed the city’s June gaming revenue rose 19 percent from a year earlier, exceeding market expectations.

Galaxy Entertainment (0027) jumped as much as 9.04 percent at the open to HK$38.00. The stock last traded up 6.6 percent at HK$37.34, with turnover exceeding HK$123 million.

Sands China (1928) opened 6 percent higher at HK$17.32 and was last up 6.9 percent at HK$17.41.

The world's biggest gambling hub's gross gaming revenue in June reached 21.06 billion patacas (HK$20.44 billion), up from 17.69 billion patacas in the same month last year, according to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. The figure was just 1.29 billion patacas short of May’s total, which was supported by the May Day holiday, and represented about 89 percent of the level seen in the same month of 2019 before the pandemic.

For the first six months of 2025, cumulative GGR rose 4.4 percent year-on-year to 118.77 billion patacas.

Analysts said June is typically a low season for tourism, but strong gaming revenue last month was supported by the opening of luxury hotels and headline concerts that attracted high-spending visitors, Macau Daily reported.

The Macau government earlier revised down its full-year gross gaming revenue forecast by 5 percent to 228 billion patacas. That means an average monthly GGR of 18.2 billion patacas in the second half of the year would be enough to meet the target.

Analysts added that sustained growth in tourist arrivals could help Macau reach its original full-year GGR target of 240 billion patacas, according to the report.

Visitor numbers have recovered to over 90 percent of pre-pandemic 2019 levels, with arrivals from mainland China and Hong Kong even surpassing those seen in 2019, the newspaper said.

STAFF REPORTER

Macau casino stocks rally as June gaming revenue beats forecasts