Macau, China, May 1, 2025 (Lusa) - Gambling revenue in Macau rose 1.7% in April compared to the same month in 2024, the third consecutive increase after a year-on-year decline in January, it was announced on Thursday.
Casinos collected nearly 18.9 billion patacas (€2.08 billion) in April, according to data from the Gambling Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) of the semi-autonomous Chinese region.
This figure was higher than expected by analysts at Citigroup, who on 24 April predicted revenues of 18.25 billion patacas (€2.01 billion) for the month, which would have been a year-on-year drop of 2%.
Vitaly Umansky, an analyst at consulting firm Seaport Research Partners, had also predicted on 1 April a 0.1% decline in revenue compared to the same month in 2024, due to a recent police crackdown on illegal money exchange.
The gambling sector is having its best start to the year since 2019, before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Between January and April, Macau's casinos recorded total revenues of 76.5 billion patacas (€8.43 billion), 0.8% more than in the same period in 2024.
This figure represents 76.7% of the total for the first four months of 2019.
On 1 April, JP Morgan Securities predicted that gambling revenues in Macau would stagnate in the first half of 2025, before ‘accelerating in the second half’ to growth of between 5 and 6%.
In a note, JP Morgan analysts said this would result in "modest growth of 3%" for the current year.
Vitaly Umansky also predicted higher growth of 10.9% in the second half of 2025, after a 2.2% rise in the first half. The Seaport Research Partners analyst expects growth of 6.5% for the whole year.
In 2024, Macau had total gambling revenues of 226.8 billion patacas (€27.4 billion), 23.9% more than in 2022, but only 73.2% of the figure recorded in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
In its 2025 budget, the Macau government predicted that the year would close with total revenues of 240 billion patacas (€27.7 billion), which would be an increase of 6% compared to last year.
However, on 23 April, Macau's secretary for Economy and Finance conceded that public revenues in 2025 "may not be as optimistic as predicted", as gambling revenues are below the monthly target of 20 billion patacas (€2.2 billion).
‘We must seriously study the future economic situation and persist in managing financial resources prudently based on the principle of keeping expenditure within the limits of revenue as set out in the Basic Law,’ said Anton Tai Kin Ip.
The Basic Law (Macau's “mini-constitution”) requires the government to keep its accounts in surplus.
The world's gambling capital, Macau is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal.
VQ/AYLS // AYLS
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