Mass market powers Macau casinos

China’s headline economic issues are deterring high end players, but mass market gaming drives Macau casino revenue. It’s a healthy trend that’s likely to continue as authorities push for Macau to become more of a tourism destination and less of a gambling hub.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is a blogger for Forbes, editor at large for Inside Asian Gaming and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.

Phone betting moves south after Macau ban

Phone betting lets people wager from anywhere there’s phone reception though an agent on the casino floor. Banned in Macau in May, proxy betting is growing across Southeast Asia, to the delight of casinos and junket promoters.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is a blogger for Forbes, editor at large for Inside Asian Gaming and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.

Casinos evolve, and so must Macau

Experts say integrated resorts have notably evolved in Asia over the past decade. The next stage is greater integration with between the resort and the destination, precisely what Macau needs in these difficult times.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is a blogger for Forbes, editor at large for Inside Asian Gaming and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.

Sputtering Macau junkets go on offense

With high rollers still shunning the global gaming capital, Macau junket promoters have united under the banner of Macau Gaming Information Association, in an effort to create a long-sought deadbeat debtor list and enter new markets.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is a blogger for Forbes, editor at large for Inside Asian Gaming and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.

Macau raises the stakes

Table minimums have risen in Macau. That’s the most noticeable change during a two week visit, covering Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia for Macau Business and Asia Times and surveying casino floors.

At most large casinos, it’s virtually impossible to find a HK$100 (US$13) table for baccarat, Macau’s favorite game, or blackjack. Minimums run HK$300 and up in most cases, with HK$1,000 and HK$2,000 tables quite prominent. Baccarat players looking for lower stakes are being pushed to electronic gaming terminals with live or video dealers. Or they can choose roulette or dice tables (sic bo or craps), where at most venues they can still toss a HK$50 or even HK$25 bet on a number, though the main plays are least HK$100.

The higher minimum trend prevails in both downtown Macau (aka the peninsula) and on the Cotai Strip. Some of the smaller joints on the peninsula have proportionally more HK$100 play, strictly as a function of having fewer tables. Grand Lisboa has a string of HK$100 tables that also accept Macau patacas (MOP) in one section of its ground level, near the escalators leading to the main gaming floor.

Higher table limits are one factor in the rise of what’s being called the premium mass market in Macau. These are high spending players below the VIP level, and this segment came to the fore as VIP play stagnated during the past year, before staging a recovery in recent months. In March, monthly gross gaming revenue reached MOP31.3 billion (US$3.9 billion), its first month topping MOP30 billion. A MOP40 billion month (see page 60) is on the horizon, though still a ways away.

Premium mass market and VIP play are both crucial to gaming revenue, but premium mass is more appealing to casino operators for a number of reasons, so they’ll keep focused on it, no matter what happens with VIP play. Watch Macau Business for my upcoming article on this key market segment.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.

Macau’s boom trumps skeptics

There’s no room left to argue about the success of Macau. Optimism about Macau and gaming across Asia dominated last week’s Global Gaming Expo Asia (G2E Asia) in the world’s gaming capital.

The annual conference and trade show was also an opportunity to showcase the new Galaxy Macau resort that’s the most daring attempt since the Venetian Macao to transform the character of the Macau market from gaming-centric day trippers. In its four years, the Venetian has become a local landmark and tourist touchstone, but it’s done little to alter the composition and direction of Macau’s growth. This year, as I reported in Asia Times, gaming revenue is on track to surpass five times the take of the Las Vegas Strip.

You can’t dispute numbers like that, but smart investors and observers can ask how much they know about what’s behind those numbers.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, financial crisis, and cheap lingerie.