Total wager observed in Citi’s latest monthly survey of Macau premium mass table gambling “fell to a post-pandemic low” of HKD9.8 million (nearly US$1.3 million), said the institution’s analysts George Choi and Timothy Chau in a Sunday memo.
That amount was 38-percent lower versus June 2025, while the number of premium mass players observed amounted to 448, i.e., 29-percent fewer year-on-year.
“We attribute the year-on-year weakness to the ongoing [FIFA] World Cup [2026],” being held in the United States, Mexico and Canada, observed the analysts. The tournament started on June 11, with the final to be held on July 19, U.S. time.
The championship “might have diverted away some of the gaming focus of some players,” they wrote. The analysts added that June this time was a “tough” comparison versus June 2025.
That was, said Citi, due to Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd having hosted at its Galaxy Arena at Galaxy Macau, coinciding with the period of the June 2025 survey, a first performance of a concert series by Hong Kong pop artist Jacky Cheung Hok-yau.
Citi stated: “One interesting note is that the HKD9.8-million total wager observed this month is at a similarly low level versus the HK$10.0 million that we observed in June 2024, the month when the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament took place.” That was a reference to another international football tournament.
Citi said that on the day of its June survey this time, it saw 287 premium mass tables with active players out of 739 tables open for public use.
The analysts stated: “The last time we saw that few tables being occupied by premium mass players was December 2024, the month of Macau’s 25th anniversary” for its handover from Portuguese administration to that of China.
That particular anniversary saw a visit to Macau from China’s leader, President Xi Jinping. A number of industry commentators has previously noted that visits to Macau by senior Chinese leaders can coincide with lower gambling volumes occurring among Chinese players belonging to the top-tier segments.
Citi noted: “We did see fewer whales this month, but the encouraging fact that we witnessed our ‘Player of the Month’ wagering HKD680,000 suggests that casino players are still able to get cash to Macau and are still very much willing to spend there.”
The term ‘whales’ is industry jargon for high-value players.
It was recently widely reported that China was cracking down on offshore trading platforms accused of helping investors bypass Beijing’s capital-export controls. Brokerage CLSA said in a note earlier this month that such a move might weigh more on casino-investor sentiment rather than on actual Macau gross gaming revenue.
Citi added in its latest wager-survey note: “The final whistle of the [World Cup] soccer tournament will blow on July 19, and we remain confident that a swift post-tournament recovery will happen.”
The institution said it observed 24 whales on the day of its June survey, down 31.4 percent on the 35 seen in June 2025. As well as the HKD680,000-player at Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd’s City of Dreams property in Cotai, “honourable mentions” went to a HKD380,000 whale at Galaxy Macau’s Pavilion North and an observed HKD220,000 whale at City of Dreams’ Signature Club.
“We noticed a few of these whales had millions of dollars of cash chips at tables,” added the Citi analysts.
They stated that the “Player of the Month” spotted by the instution helped Melco Resorts “gain share in terms of total wager observed to 21 percent, making it the most-improved operator.”
The institution said Galaxy Entertainment held its “number one rank” for observed premium mass wager, with a 25-percent share, while Wynn Macau Ltd’s observed share “fell sharply to 13 percent”. The latter runs Wynn Macau downtown and Wynn Palace in the Cotai casino district.
