Macau has experienced a good 1st quarter in 2013, based on the recent report from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. The report revealed that Macau casino’s figures during the first quarter of 2013 has shot up by 14.8% in gross gaming revenue and touched $10.66 billion, when compared to the first quarter of 2012.
The numbers provided by the gambling bureau in Macau were very specific. The numbers revealed that overall revenue during Jan 2013 went up to US$3.358 billion, which meant a 7.3% rise when compared to Jan 2012.
The overall revenue in February 2013 touched $3.4 billion, which was a 12% increase when compared to February 2012 and the revenue in March 2013 rose to $3.92 billion, an increase of 25.4% when compared to March 2013.
In a statement, RBC Capital Market’s John Kempf when addressing the investment potential of the Macau market said
Looking ahead, we remain positive on the Macau market but we also believe it is prudent to set conservative expectations for the remainder of the year, especially on the VIP side given the recent “resurgence” in this segment. We are estimating that market wide gross gaming revenue will increase 10.7% over 2012, with mass growth in the 20% range and VIP in the mid-single digit range.
On the whole, Macau’s specialized VIP market generated more than $7.2 billion of the total $10.66 billion revenue between the months of Jan and March 2013. This is a 9.8% gain when compared to the 1st quarter of 2012. The gambling market in China has been gaining strong momentum and popularity with every passing year.
The Chinese gambling market overtook Las Vegas back in 2006 and is now considered to be the world’s largest gambling market. Macau which has a population of around 555,000 people has 35 casinos that offer its client base more than 5,497 table games along with 17,029 slot machine games.
However, one of the main reasons why Macau has gained in popularity and quickly developed to be the leading gambling hub in the world is because a number of popular American firms have decided to invest and take advantage of the gambling potential that Macau has to offer. Some of these popular companies who own casinos in Macau, include the Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands and MGM Grand Paradise. All of these casinos have also done really well during the 1st quarter, making the investment in Macau a really good one.
