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Macao Business
Roaring Back
9 Sep 2023
Q2 results of the Big Six confirm Sands China’s lead and MGM’s fast-paced recovery to pre-COVID levels
The second-quarter results of the six gaming concessionaires have confirmed key trends witnessed in the first three-month period of the year: Sands China’s market share lead, and MGM China climbing up the rankings both in terms of gross gaming revenue and adjusted property EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization).
“MGM continued its impressive 2023 performance by becoming the only operator to reach its 2Q-2019 levels in total GGR and Adjusted Property EBITDA. No other operator did that, even for one of the two key metrics,” gaming expert Alidad Tash, Managing Director of 2nt8 Limited, told Macau Business.
The overall Macau gaming market sped up its recovery in the second quarter as total GGR reached MOP45.6 billion (USD 5.7 billion), showing a 31.1 percent increase over the first quarter and accounting for 62 percent of the pre-pandemic second quarter of 2019. All gaming operators reaped the benefits of pent-up demand, coming mainly from the mainland and Hong Kong, and saw their Adjusted Property EBITDA increase substantially from the first to the second quarter of 2023.
Based on data complied and provided to Macau Business by 2nt8 Limited
Sands China maintained a clear lead over the competition in the second quarter with a 26.8 percent GGR market share and was also the top performer regarding EBITDA, followed in both metrics by Galaxy Entertainment Group. Melco Resorts & Entertainment ranks third in terms of GGR but is fifth regarding earnings (EBITDA). Wynn Macau’s earnings results, ranking third, outperform its GGR rank (fifth), while MGM China ranks fourth both in terms of GGR and EBITDA. Compared with the second quarter of 2019, MGM climbed from 6th place to 4th in the GGR market share ranking.
Alidad Tash underlines that “MGM’s success so far this year can be attributed to a combination of factors. Among them are being granted 200 additional gaming tables, improved casino layout, more emphasis on analytics, more marketing personnel, less pre-COVID reliance on junkets, and its senior management making a higher-than-expected non-gaming spend commitment.”
While SJM Resorts ranks last in both GGR and EBITDA rankings, the company controlled by Stanley Ho’s family saw a big jump in terms of earnings from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2023, from just USD 4 million to USD 55 billion.
When comparing 2019 Q2 with the second quarter of this year, another noticeable change regards the revenue stream structure as VIP’s share saw a big squeeze resulting from the crackdown on junkets and the city’s new laws and regulations governing gaming promoters.