Citi: Macau premium mass rooms showing strong demand from mainland Chinese players

In a Monday note, George Choi and Ryan Cheung revealed a surge in both year-on-year and month-on-month premium mass wager observed during their most recent visit to Macau’s integrated resorts, including an increase in whale spotting with 25 big players observed betting as much as HK$600,000 (US$77,000) per hand.

“The fact that this happens after the Macau government’s decision to criminalize illegal money exchanges within casino premises means that most players, via legitimate channels, are still able to get their funds to the Macau casinos,” Choi and Cheung wrote.

“August is seasonally one of the strongest months in terms of visitation, and historically GGR in August is usually driven by player count. The 40% year-on-year higher player count this month likely implies that there were more casual premium pass players returning.

“This also leads to a minor 4% year-on-year dilution in wager per player, but we don’t think this implies a decrease in player quality.”

Citi’s premium mass survey for August observed a 35% year-on-year increase in total wager to HK$12.8 million (US$1.6 million), with 655 premium mass players spotted.

The slight decline in wager player is attributed to August being a month where “more casual, less keen players show up”.

The biggest player of the month – the one betting HK$600,000 per hand – was sighted at Dragon Palace at City of Dreams, with a friend seated alongside wagering HK$400,000 per hand.

However, Citi said Galaxy Macau continues to rank top in its premium mass survey with around 29% market share in total wager observed, up from ~25% in July.