Macau’s 20 casinos generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) of 22.6 billion patacas (US$2.8 billion) last month, marking a year-on-year increase of 6.7 percent, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) announced today.
Month-on-month, May’s GGR rose by 13.6 percent, from April’s 19.89 billion patacas.
May produced the local casino sector’s third lowest monthly GGR in the first five months of the year and its third lowest year-on-year growth rate, after February’s 4.5 percent and April’s 5.5 percent
Between January and May, GGR rose year-on-year by 10.9 percent to 108.3 billion patacas.
Macau’s government-concessioned gaming industry is operated by six rival integrated resort (IR) operators: Sands, Galaxy, SJM, Melco, Wynn, and MGM. Under their concession agreements with the government, they are required to enhance their non-gaming attractions and support the promotion of Macau’s cultural heritage and old-quarter renewal projects. The operators pay 35 percent of their GGR as a direct gaming tax to the government, along with an additional 5.0 percent in levies to fund various public causes.
As of the end of the first quarter, the six operators ran a total of 20 casinos, a 52.4 percent decrease from the peak of 42 casinos in 2021. This decline is primarily due to a government-ordered consolidation of the gaming industry, which included an official ban on so-called “satellite casinos” operated by third-party enterprises (junkets) in collaboration with gaming concessionaires.
During the gaming industry’s three-year consolidation process, which officially ended on December 31, 2025, the gaming tables and slot machines from shuttered satellite casinos, along with their local employees, were transferred to casinos directly run by the gaming concessionaires.
Currently, SJM and Sands own five casinos each, Galaxy and Melco operate three each, while Wynn and MGM run two each.
According to the latest available DICJ statistics, baccarat accounted for 85.2 percent of local casinos' GGR across their 16 games of chance at the end of this year’s first quarter. In comparison, roulette, Europe’s classic game of chance, generated a mere 0.49 percent of GGR.
At the end of the first quarter, Macau’s casinos operated 6,000 gaming tables and 12,000 gaming machines, according to the inspectorate overseeing the city’s “dragon-head” industry.
Macau’s officially concessioned casino industry got off the ground in 1849.
According to the latest available data from the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC), the number of persons engaged in the gaming sector amounted to 53,272 at the end of last year, accounting for 10.7 percent of Macau’s total labour force of 496,600 around that time (Dec 2025-Feb 2026).
In December, according to DSEC figures, the average earnings (excluding irregular remuneration) of the gaming sector’s full-time employees stood at 28,020 patacas.
