November’s gross gaming revenue falls back from October’s post-pandemic high
The dip was anticipated by the gaming sector, given that October’s figure reflected the ‘golden week’ holiday windfall.
Macao’s casino operators generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) of just over 16 billion patacas in November, according to figures from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
The sum represents a decrease of almost 18 percent from the 19.5 billion patacas – a post-pandemic high – generated in the previous month.
The shortfall was expected by analysts, given that October saw a particularly high total as a result of the 8-day “golden week” holiday.
[See more: The amount of gaming tax collected in 2023 will outstrip official forecasts]
For comparison, the total GGR for pre-pandemic November 2019 in Macao was 22.8 billion patacas. Monthly GGR figures mostly exceeded 20 billion patacas from 2017 until the onset of Covid-19 at the start of 2020.
Accumulated GGR so far in 2023 meanwhile stands at 164.4 billion patacas, compared to 269.6 billion patacas for the same period of 2019.
The government originally set a GGR target of 130 billion patacas for the year, while analysts have been predicting an annual total of 180 billion patacas or more. Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng has said he considers the higher figure “impossible” to achieve.
