Macau’s August casino GGR down 1.2pct from a year earlier to US$2.7bln: govt

Casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) in Macau fell 1.2 percent year-on-year in August, to just over MOP21.89 billion (US$2.71 billion), showed data released on Tuesday by the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. The latest monthly GGR result took the Macau aggregate so far this year to MOP169.05 billion, 3.7-percent higher than in the prior-year period. August’s GGR was up 8.1 percent on July’s MOP20.26 billion, according to the regulator’s data. Seaport Research Partners said in a mid-August note, citing casino-executives’ comment during the 2026 Seaport Annual Summer Conference, that Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd did “not believe there is an element of pent-up demand from customers who skipped Macau during the World Cup”. A number of investment analysts had said the FIFA World Cup 2026, a global football tournament held in North America from June 11 to July 19, had in likelihood led some gamblers to delay trips to Macau. Bank Citigroup had said in its August survey of high-stakes table play, that Macau premium mass players were observed to be spending more, despite a slightly lower headcount of top players, or ‘whales’, judged year-on-year. Citi stated in the memo: “The 31 whales we ran into… wagered an average of HKD244,000 per hand, up a whopping 54 percent versus August 2025.”