Casinos in Macau garnered gross gaming revenues in 2010 of almost US$24 billion, almost four times more than the SAR’s closest competitor, the casinos of the Las Vegas Strip. The figure was 58 percent more than the Macau casinos won in 2009. Revenues have consistently climbed since Macau opened up gaming in 2002, but the increase in 2009 was just a modest 10 percent over 2008. Macau casinos overtook Nevada casinos in revenue production in 2007.

December revenues were up 66 percent over the same month in 2009, surprising some gaming analysts.

“We were not expecting it to be so strong in December,” CLSA’s Aaron Fischer said. “We thought it would fall off a bit in the last few weeks of the year, but it didn’t. Historically, Christmas is not a big gambling time.”

Market share remained steady compared to November, when Wynn Macau overtook Sands China for second place. Stanley Ho’s SJM claimed the top spot with a 30 percent market share. Wynn came in at 17 percent, followed by Sands China at 16.4 percent, Melco Crown at 14.5 percent, MGM Macau at 11.7 percent and Galaxy Entertainment with 10 percent.

By GGB Staff

Staff writers for Global Gaming Business magazine. Las Vegas, Nevada.