Macau casinos earn similar revenue with far lower junket costs: Study
jan26 Macau’s gaming industry has undergone a profound structural shift under the new gaming concession framework, with data showing that commissions, incentives, and rebates paid by concessionaires in 2023 and 2024 fell far more sharply than gross gaming revenue ( GGR ), amid a continued decline in the role of gaming junkets and changes in casino operating models. According to a peer-reviewed study published in Global Gaming & Tourism Research, an academic journal of the Center for Gaming and Tourism Studies at Macao Polytechnic University, total industry-wide spending on commissions, incentives, discounts, and rebates amounted to MOP39.507 billion ($4.94 billion) in 2024 and MOP31.762 billion ($3.97 billion) in 2023. These figures represent declines of between 37 percent and 49 percent compared with MOP62.608 billion ($7.83 billion) recorded in 2019. By contrast, industry GGR over the same periods fell by a smaller margin of between 22 percent and 37 percent, ind...