Macau’s casino industry was strong out of the gate in January, with gross gaming revenue of MOP 22.63 billion (US$2.79 billion), up 24% year-on-year. The figure exceeded analysts’ expectations and represented the highest January total since 2019.
In addition, GGR rose 8.35% from December, the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau announced on Sunday.
In a 7 January note, Seaport Research analyst Vitaly Umansky had anticipated year-on-year GGR growth of 14% for the month, “helped by an easy comparison” to January 2025. His projection followed a slower-than-expected December. In that month, although GGR increased 14.8%, it was short of the analyst consensus of 18% and down 0.9% from November.
But full-year 2025 saw total GGR of MOP247.4 billion, up 9.1% over 2024 and exceeding the MOP228 billion projected by Macau Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai. The full-year figure represented a recovery of 84.6% compared to the pre-pandemic year, which ended at MOP292.5 billion.
Analysts look for steady growth in 2026
Umansky predicted a growth rate of 7% for 2026, “driven by an increasing wealth effect in China with high propensity to gamble and increasing travel spend”. Deutsche Bank expects GGR to rise 5.8%, with JP Morgan looking for a boost of 5%-6% for the year.
According to Macau Post Daily, at the close of 2025 the Big 6 operators ran a total of 20 casinos, down 52.4 percent from the peak of 42 casinos in 2021. Collectively, they offered 6,000 gaming tables and 12,000 gaming machines. Baccarat accounted for most of the action in 2025, contributing 85.1% of GGR for the year.