Macau's VIP segment is in decline, but the mass segment is stable

Income from the baccarat game in the mass segment of Macau casinos in 2018 grew by 19% compared with 2017 and reached 27.9 billion Ptcs ($3.5 billion). This was reported by the Department of Inspection and Coordination (DICJ).

In the same period, revenue from baccarat in the VIP segment grew by only 3.4% to 42 billion Ptcs, which is in line with analysts' forecasts of a continuing decline in the VIP sector in early 2019.

Experts expect that growth in the mass segment will contribute to the overall rise in revenue of the Macau casino industry in 2019, since the VIP sector may be more susceptible to the economic and trading conditions of mainland China.

“We expect that the weakness of the VIP segment will continue in early 2019, but in general, the whole of 2019 will be virtually unchanged. This will be due to the stability of the mass market," - says the Fitch report, published in late November.

Income from slot machines increased by 7.9%, reaching 3.9 billion Ptcs. Total GGR for the quarter amounted to 78.8 billion Ptcs, an increase of 8.9% over the same period last year.