According to analysts at Citigroup, Galaxy Entertainment Group has become the second operator in Macau after MGM China to complete the full deployment of smart gaming tables across its entire mass baccarat inventory.
This comes as part of a Monday note from Citi analysts George Choi and Timothy Chau following their monthly Macau table survey. This development is part of a broader trend in the region, where Macau’s concessionaires are adopting smart table technology over the past year following MGM’s success to enhance the gaming experience and boost efficiency.
MGM China’s success story and Galaxy Entertainment Group’s decision to follow suit marks a significant shift in the region’s gaming landscape. According to Citi, Galaxy Macau’ grand mass area featured 74 new smart tables during the bank’s January visit, and nine new at StarWorld.
“We believe Galaxy has become the second casino operator in Macau to have fully deployed smart tables for its Mass baccarat operations,” the analysts wrote.
Analysts also estimate that Sands China is estimated to have reached approximately 80 percent deployment of smart tables. This comes with 19 recently added smart tables at The Venetian Macao, 80 at The Parisian Macao, and 12 in the high-limit area of Sands Macao. Sands China’s 80 percent deployment compares with Wynn’s around 60 percent while Melco is at 50 percent. Melco’s Studio City is already at full deployment with the focus now on City of Dreams.
Additionally, SJM, which operates Grand Lisboa, has recently integrated 63 smart tables, marking a new entry into the smart table space.
Smart tables increase speed
“It is worth emphasising that smart tables can help increase the speed of the game (more games can be dealt per hour), and this is one of the important drivers (which should not be ignored) in our +7 percent FY25 Macau GGR growth forecast,” said Choi and Chau.
Despite the positive growth forecast, analysts have observed a pre-Chinese New Year slowdown in Macau’s gaming sector. This annual trend sees a reduction in the number of high-rolling players (often referred to as ‘whales’) in the premium mass gaming rooms. Additionally, the average bet size of premium mass players has decreased year-on-year.
“We maintain our view that January 2025 GGR will fall 2 percent year-on-year to MOP$19.0 billion (US$2.37 billion) but continue to anticipate positive GGR growth for January and February combined,” Citi said.
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