Wynn Macau Ltd was judged the largest month-on-month gainer in terms of percentage of observed gaming wager in Citigroup’s monthly premium mass table-betting survey of Macau casinos.
The firm was considered by the institution to have a share of total viewed industry wager that was up 13 percentage points sequentially, to 23 percent.
“We suspect that has to do with the ramp-up of the expanded Chairman’s Club in Wynn Palace,” wrote analysts George Choi and Timothy Chau in their April-survey memo, referring to a high-end gaming facility at Wynn Macau Ltd’s Cotai property (pictured).
They added: “This is the first time [of]… a single operator winning ‘gold’, ‘silver’, and ‘bronze’ in our whale watch.” Whales are defined by the institution as high-value players betting HKD100,000 (US$12,768) or above.
“We saw our player of the month at Wynn’s Encore wagering HKD400,000. Honourable mentions go to the two whales at the Chairman’s Club at Wynn Palace wagering HKD330,000 and HKD300,000 respectively,” the analysts stated.
Total wager observed in the April 2026 survey amounted to HKD13.0 million, which the institution said was 17-percent higher than the prior-year period.
The number of premium mass players seen this month amounted to 644, 5-percent up on April 2025, per the report.
“This implies that average wager per player grew 11 percent year-on-year to HKD20,203 versus HKD18,139 in April 20205,” Citi stated.
The institution said it witnessed a 63.2 percent year-on-year increase in “whales” this month: to 31 from 19 in April last year.
The Citi team said the “most surprising takeaways” from its April survey “were the whales and their wagering we witnessed at Wynn’s casinos”.
The analysts added the nine whales seen in aggregate at Wynn Macau downtown and Wynn Palace – “including the three largest whales… on survey day – wagered a total of HKD1.72 million”.
They further noted: “We believe the novelty effect of the recently-opened expanded area of the Chairman’s Club in Wynn Palace plays a role in the observed volume improvement. It looks like ‘Build it and they will come’ still holds in Macau.”
Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd, which is still expanding its Galaxy Macau flagship in Cotai, continued to rank number one in Citi’s premium mass survey with a 27-percent share in total wager observed, though that was 4 percentage points down on March’s observed 31 percent.
The Citi analysts observed, referring to MGM China Holdings Ltd, which runs MGM Macau on the city’s peninsula and MGM Cotai in the Cotai district: “We would keep an eye on MGM, as it has recently opened a new premium mass room at MGM Cotai.”
The analysts stated: “We visited the recently opened Masters Club at MGM Cotai for the first time. The room is beautifully decorated and contains 17 baccarat tables – with minimum bets between HKD3,000 and HKD10,000 – in the open area plus a number of private salons.”
They added: “When we were there, we saw a handful of players, each with chip stacks exceeding HKD1 million.”
The Citi team also mentioned that MGM China was offering to players special FIFA World Cup editions of the popular Chinese collectable Labubu dolls, via “point redemptions”.
Citi said that “impressively”, this was “only a couple of weeks after the newest plush dolls were launched on April 2.”
The analysts also mentioned that coinciding with a mainland China holiday season surrounding Labour Day on May 1, three of Macau’s operators had major music stars due to perform. Citi mentioned Hai Lai A Mu at Galaxy Arena; Kelly Chen at The Venetian Arena, at Sands China Ltd’s The Venetian Macao; and Na Ying at MGM Fantasy Box located at MGM Macau.
