Macau premium mass players lose 14 times more per trip than a base Las Vegas player

According to the brokerage aside from some of the clear differences between VIP and mass customers, most gaming spend in Macau is premium in nature.
‘For someone to lose US$450-US$550 gaming on a Macau trip (the average range of a Base Mass customer) makes this type of spend “premium” in the grand context of Chinese consumption — and certainly is compared to Las Vegas standards,’ the brokerage indicated in a report.

The research also noted that in Macau, premium play is a key driver of revenues with premium players – VIP and Premium Mass – accounting for only about 5 per cent of total visitation, but represented over 70 per cent of gross gaming revenues in Macau and over 50 per cent of its profitability.

Macau recorded a total of MOP269.6 billion in gaming revenues between January and November of this year, a 2.4 per cent year-on-year rise.
‘We estimate there are currently approximately 150,000 (+/-15,000) unique VIP players in 2018. […] VIP players, on average, visit Macau four times per year and play over the course of two to three days. However, it is worth noting that a portion of VIP players do stay longer (some stay for the maximum stay allowed) and may come as frequently as every month. […] Estimated annual VIP losses per unique VIP player are on average US$110,000 to US$130,000 in 2018,’ the report stated.

This information has been published in a Bernstein report titled ‘Wynn Resorts and Wynn Macau — Capitalizing on the Premium Consumer’.

Bernstein also stated that according to its China Premium Consumer Usage and Attitudes Survey conducted in 2017, the average Chinese gaming consumer is approximately 36 years old, is more likely to be male, likely lives in a Tier 1 or Tier 2 Chinese city, earns RMB19,000 per month, and has visited Macau three times in the past 12 months.

‘He most likely visited a Sands property — Venetian, Four Seasons, Cotai Central, or Parisian — on his last trip. He is also likely to be a member of several casino rewards programs. […] Based on our previous customer surveys, a Chinese visitor spends over 4.5 hours per day on gaming,’ the brokerage noted.

Bringing cash and withdrawing money from Chinese bank accounts via ATMs – using UnionPay – were also said to be the two most common ways for Chinese customers to fund their gaming budgets in Macau, about 50 per cent and over 40 per cent of Bernstein’s survey respondents, respectively.

‘However, 36 per cent of Chinese customers fund their gaming budgets by accessing non-Chinese bank accounts (their own, or possibly accounts belonging to other parties). A surprisingly small percentage of survey respondents (5%) claim that they go through pawnshops in Macau (a low number in comparison with our prior surveys). This low percentage is likely due to customer concerns about highlighting this method of acquiring cash, as more scrutiny is being placed on UnionPay utilization outside China,’ analysts stated in the report.