Rise of the Masses (and More)
In Macau, the smart money is on mass-market gaming, smart tables, side bets and superstar entertainment.
VIP players once ruled the Macau gaming scene. Facilitated by junket operators, mainland Chinese “whales” were known for betting HK$100,000 or more per hand at the tables. With the decline of junkets, their dominance has decreased. But mass-market gaming has expanded to fill the void—it is now responsible for 70 percent of the city’s gross gaming revenue, up from 40 percent in 2019.
Operators have responded by repurposing former VIP areas as mass spaces. They have also reduced minimum bets from HK$2,000 to as low as HK$300—a bid to win punters who once patronized the city’s 11 satellite casinos, all of which were required to close by December 31.
RFID-equipped tables, which track player behavior in real time, along with game performance and operational efficiency, are also contributing to profitability. By reducing each hand of baccarat by just five seconds, so-called “smart tables” could boost GGR by 5.9 percent. MGM China was an early adopter of the technology, and as a result nearly doubled its market share between 2018 and 2024. The remaining concessionaires were expected to make the changeover by the end of 2025. Stephen Moore, CEO of Walker Digital Table Systems, has called it “the slotification of table games.”
A concurrent surge in side bets has increased casino hold rates, but some operators are already paring back baccarat side bets due to diminishing returns. According to Walker President Graeme Croft, smart technology “is like a Ferrari. Everyone’s got a Ferrari but not everyone can drive it. … So it comes down to the ones that can actually use that data properly.”
Entertainment has also taken center stage to increase overall revenue. In one striking example, when Hong Kong pop singer Jacky Cheung performed at Galaxy Macau in June, Citi analysts noted a 16 percent increase in premium players and a 36 percent increase in the average wager. At the end of the third quarter, the city’s Statistics and Census Service indicated that the local economy “continued to make steady progress,” with gross domestic product expanding 8 percent year-on-year to MOP103.86 billion. Analysts are hopeful the SAR could meet or exceed its original GGR target of MOP240 billion ($29.95 billion). With more mass play, technological innovations and entertainment, Macau is revving on all available cylinders.
