_edited.png)
Also in Macao Daily News
Macao Business
23 May 2023
With all six Macau gaming operators’ first-quarter financial results out, MGM China has emerged as the “runaway winner,” moving up three places in a six-team race from pre-COVID sixth to third in terms of gross gaming revenue (GGR) in a ranking led by Sands China, noted gaming expert Alidad Tash, Managing Director of 2nt8 Limited in an exclusive interview with MNA and Macau Business.
Regarding adjusted property EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) for this year’s first quarter, MGM China, which operates two properties – one in the peninsula and another one in Cotai – also ranks third, up from fifth in the fourth quarter of 2019, the last full pre-COVID three-month period. Achieving such a feat in terms of casino revenue and Adjusted EBITDA (US$169 million, already accounting for 88 per cent of the first quarter of 2019) is “extremely hard,” emphasizes Mr. Tash.
While the sceptics might argue that MGM has been lucky, was awarded 200 gaming tables, and has been giving away too much comps to high rollers, Alidad Tash gives “a lot of credit to the MGM team for their efforts since the pandemic,” stressing that “they completely re-arranged the MGM Cotai casino floor, brought analytics and gaming operations together, and applied just the right amount of aggressiveness to their marketing effort.”
In unpacking the Q1 data made public by the Big Six and comparing it with the 2019 Q4 figures, the gaming analyst concludes that MGM “picked up two or three spots in every one of the five key categories”: Mass GGR, VIP GGR, Slots GGR, Total GGR, and adjusted property EBITDA.
The company said its “daily mass GGR surpassed pre-COVID levels at 107% of first quarter 2019, higher than market’s 60-70% levels”.
Sands China and Galaxy Entertainment maintain their pre-COVID first and second positions, respectively, both in terms of Total GGR and adjusted property EBITDA.
Melco Resorts & Entertainment ranks fifth in GGR and fourth in adjusted property EBITDA, with Wynn Macauswitching positions with the company led by Lawrence Ho.
SJM Holdings finishes at the bottom in four of the five categories.