In 2024, Macau’s casino GGR came in at MOP226.78 billion, as reported by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ). According to Casino.com, this 23.9 percent rise in revenue growth compared to 2023 highlights Macau’s continued recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, fueled by the reopening of international borders in January 2023.With gaming revenues of MOP18.2 billion, a two percent reduction from December 2023 and 1.3 percent down on November 2024—the DICJ notes that the 2024 GGR was achieved even if December’s sales dropped. Macau’s 2024 casino GGR significantly dwarfs the government’s annual forecast of MOP216 billion. The total exceeds the official projections by 5 percent. Many analysts have suggested that the temporary slowdown in gambling revenue in December can be attributed to the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit. He made a three-day trip to the peninsula in December to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Chinese rule in Macau. As per analysts DS Kim, Mufan Shi, and Selina Li of JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd., December marked an “80 percent recovery compared to pre-Covid levels”, with the full year set to close at a 77 percent recovery.Though analysts said that this would probably have little impact as December was expected to be a quiet month owing to President Xi’s visit, the statistics were two to three percent lower than the sell-side consensus (MOP18.5 billion to MOP18.8 billion). The MOP18.20 billion GGR for December represented a growth in the daily run rate for the last 16 days of the month, according to Citigroup. Overall, it came to around MOP603 million, roughly four percent higher than the MOP579 million during the week of December 9.
The brokerage also pointed out that the data for December included the three days – from December 18 to 20 – when President Xi visited Macau to mark the 25th anniversary of the handover from Portuguese to Chinese administration, which likely contributed to a strong finish for Macau’s late-December GGR. For 2025 the Macau government has set a GGR target of MOP240 billion. Specialists, including the former chief executive Ho Iat Seng, referred to this figure as a conservative estimate. Present chief executive Sam Hou Fai confirmed the numbers in the 2025 fiscal budget.As well as this, the Macau government projects MOP100m in tax revenue from commissions paid by casinos to junket operators in 2025. This is a substantial rise of 233.3% compared to the MOP30m forecast for the previous year. This rise captures the expected ongoing expansion of the gambling industry in the city. Macau received 34.93 million visitors in 2024, which was a 23.6 percent increase from the year before; the total was equivalent to 88.6 percent of the visitor numbers recorded in 2019, before the pandemic. With 24.48 million visitors—a growth of 28.6 percent from 2023—Mainland China accounted for 70.1 percent of the arrivals. Arrivals from Taiwan accounted for 2.4 percent; visitors from Hong Kong were 6.99 million, or 20.6 percent.
Reflecting a 66 percent increase over the year before, around 2.41 million foreign visitors arrived in 2024. This amount accounted for 79 percent of the international arrivals noted in 2019 and 6.9 percent of the overall visitor count for the year.Including an estimate of three million from overseas markets, the statistics topped the government’s initial expectation of 33 million tourists for 2024. With 325,753 arrivals throughout the three-day period from 30 December to 1 January, Macau rounded up in 2024 with outstanding tourist numbers. This translated to an average daily visitor count over that period of 108,580. The Macau government projects 36 million visitor arrivals for 2025, giving forecasts of continuous increase in regional and global travel. This prediction draws on the city’s strong performance in 2024 and the slow comeback of its gambling and tourist sectors following COVID-19 induced restrictions. After Adriano Ho was moved to the post of Customs Commissioner, the DICJ did not name a replacement director yet. Deputy directors Lio Chi Chong and Chui Hou Ian have handled bureau operations in the meanwhile. Ho had been director for four-and-a-half years before his new appointment.Among other government appointments, Tam Wai Man has been named as the new Secretary for Transport and Works in Macau; Tai Kin Ip has been promoted to Secretary for Economy and Finance; O Lam has assumed the post of Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture. These changes are part of a larger administrative reorganisation under direction by Sam Hou Fai, Macau’s sixth-term Chief Executive. The target reflects more general patterns of recovery as well as increases in visitor arrivals from important markets such mainland China, Hong Kong, and overseas locations.