Mass-baccarat bets at US$127 up, star in Macau-floor checks on day five of October Golden week holidays

Live-dealer mass-baccarat bets starting at HKD1,000 (US$127) were standout features of play in Macau downtown casinos and Cotai resorts on Monday, day five of the seven-day October Golden Week holiday observed on the Chinese mainland. That is according to floor checks by GGRAsia. The higher end of the most popular mass-baccarat bets observed was around HKD2,000. Chinese-mainland consumers are the main market for Macau casinos. In the morning, GGRAsia called in at Macau-peninsula complexes Grand Lisboa, run by SJM Resorts Ltd; Wynn Macau, operated by Wynn Macau Ltd; MGM Macau, belonging to MGM China Holdings Ltd; and StarWorld Hotel, run by Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. At Grand Lisboa and at StarWorld Hotel, main-floor baccarat bets on Level 2 and Level 3 respectively, started as low as HKD300. At Wynn Macau, MGM Macau and StarWorld Hotel, mass wagers of up to HKD3,000 were on offer, though most commonly available were the HKD1,000 and HKD2,000-denominated tables. Baccarat side bets offered at the Macau peninsula casinos typically ranged between HKD100 to HKD200. Some “high-limits” area minimums on the peninsula actually started as low as HKD1,000 – namely at Grand Lisboa’s Level 2 – while HKD10,000 minimums were seen in the high-end Encore Casino at Wynn Macau. The most common range for high-limits wagers was between HKD2,000 and HKD5,000. High-limit baccarat side bets on the peninsula mostly ranged from HKD200 to HKD300. Cotai floors On Monday afternoon GGRAsia visited a number of Cotai venues: Galaxy Entertainment’s Galaxy Resort (formerly Galaxy Macau); The Venetian Macao and the two-casino The Londoner Macao, both belonging to Sands China Ltd; MGM Cotai run by MGM China; City of Dreams Macau, operated by Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd; Wynn Palace, promoted by Wynn Macau Ltd; and Grand Lisboa Palace, from SJM Resorts. While player traffic at most of those Cotai properties was heavy, the main floors of the casinos were not uncomfortably crowded. High-limits baccarat areas mostly had only moderate player traffic, with the tables offering HKD2,000 to HKD3,000 bets relatively well-populated with players. City of Dreams Macau had main floor baccarat as low as HKD300. The upper limit seen for main floors was HKD5,000 – at Galaxy Macau and MGM Cotai. Most commonly viewed on Cotai main floors were HKD1,000- and HKD2,000-denominated tables. Cotai main-floor baccarat side bets typically ranged from HKD100 to HKD300. High-limits Cotai baccarat was seen to start as low as HKD1,000 – at Grand Lisboa Palace’s Dragon Pavilion – up to HKD10,000 – at Galaxy Macau’s Pavilion North and City of Dreams Macau. The most common price range was HKD2,000 to HKD5,000. High-limit baccarat side bets seen in Cotai casinos mostly ranged from HKD200 to HKD500. The baccarat minimum bet levels across the main floors of the Cotai casinos – including the side bets – were generally pricier than the equivalent at their Macau-peninsula counterparts. Operators’ side-bet strategies Several casinos have dropped baccarat side bets ‘Monkey no Monkey’ and ‘Pairs+’ on mass floors, indicated GGRAsia’s Monday checks. Both those side bets had been approved in late March by the local regulator, and implemented Macau market-wide around the Labour Day holiday season in early May. Grand Lisboa and Grand Lisboa Palace were instead on Monday offering side bets ‘Small/Big 6’, Two- and Three-Card ‘Lucky 7’, ‘Super Lucky 7’, as well as tie and the pair bets on their mass floors. City of Dreams was on Monday still running Pairs+ bets for mass players. It also had baccarat side bets ‘Small/Big 6’, Two- and Three-Card Lucky 7, Super Lucky 7 and tie bets. Monkey no Monkey and Pairs+ appeared absent from The Venetian Macao and The Londoner Macao mass floors as of Monday. Sands China had described both bets as “Pioneered by Sands” in marketing materials when they were launched in late April. At those Cotai casinos of Sands China, a four-tier linked progressive jackpot for live baccarat wagers was introduced as a distinct side bet option from September 24, GGRAsia previously reported. As of Monday, the “Mass Red Dragon Game Zone” and high-limits area at Venetian Macao continued to offer that jackpot feature. At the Venetian Macao, Lucky 6, Small/Big 6, Lucky 7, Super Lucky 7, tie and pair bets were all on offer. Main-floor live baccarat at The Londoner Casino and Londoner Grand Casino within Londoner Macao, continued to be kitted entirely with the new jackpot feature, GGRAsia confirmed from the Monday visit.