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Texas Hold’em rides again in Macau at 94pct of 2019 record
Oct 19, 2023
Gross gaming revenue (GGR) generated from Texas Hold’em poker in the Macau market during the third quarter reached MOP177 million (nearly US$22.0 million), representing a rise of 17.2 percent from the previous quarter’s MOP151 million, show data from the city’s casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
Texas Hold’em poker GGR for the first three quarters of this year, was MOP418 million, just 0.32 percent of the city’s overall casino GGR at MOP128.95 billion in the same period.
Nonetheless for the calendar year to September 30 it was already 93.7 percent of full-year 2019, when the aggregate had been MOP446 million. The latter tally had been a modern-era record, according to available data from the gaming bureau.
Texas Hold’em poker’s Macau comeback, seen in stages this year, reflects that the “post-pandemic gaming crowd is younger and more familiar with poker”, suggested Alidad Tash, managing director at industry consultancy 2NT8 Ltd, and a former senior executive in the local gaming market.
“Both MGM [China Holdings Ltd’s] properties as well as Grand Lisboa Palace have offered [Texas Hold’em] poker tables, and they have been received positively,” Mr Tash told GGRAsia.
Referring to gaming table allocation via the Macau authorities, the consultant also noted: “MGM’s additional 200 tables have made it possible for them to explore the poker market, used both to generate revenue and potential cross-play [into other gaming options], and non-gaming spend.”
MGM China received authorisation to operate a total of 750 gaming tables and 1,700 gaming machines under its new licence that started in January, according to a December filing to the Hong Kong bourse. The company had in June launched a poker zone at its MGM Macau property, and another at its MGM Cotai resort.
From GGRAsia site checks in early October, Texas Hold’em poker zones were available and active on the mass gaming floors inside a number of Macau’s major casino properties. They were: Wynn Macau, promoted by Wynn Macau Ltd in downtown peninsula; the Venetian Macao in Cotai, promoted by Sands China Ltd; MGM Macau and MGM Cotai, promoted by MGM China; and Grand Lisboa Palace in Cotai, promoted by SJM Holdings Ltd.