Macau November gaming revenue rises 14.4pc, beats expectations

Macau’s gaming revenue rose 14.4 percent year on year to 21.09 billion patacas (HK$20.55 billion) in November, beating market expectations, data from the city's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau showed.

The world’s biggest gambling hub continues to attract players through perks and events, helping the month’s result beat the analyst forecast of a 10.5 percent year-on-year gain and bringing revenue back to about 92 percent of its 2019 pre-pandemic level, Bloomberg reported.

However, the monthly tally marked a 12.4 percent decline from October, which had been boosted by a strong Golden Week rebound in visitor traffic, with arrivals reaching 3.47 million, up 10.8 percent from a year earlier.

Although November is typically one of the quieter months for Macau casinos, premium players continued to show solid spending appetite, Bloomberg reported, citing a Citigroup survey that found the number of big bettors up 5 percent from a year earlier, with their combined betting jumping 19 percent.

Bloomberg cited Citigroup analyst George Choi as saying that the star-studded event and concert lineup of the past three years has been a major driver of Macau’s visitor and gaming-revenue recovery, helping turn the city into an entertainment hub. Choi added that concerts and events will remain an important catalyst.

For the first 11 months of the year, gaming revenue reached 226.52 billion patacas, up 8.6 percent from a year earlier.