Melco Resorts Mass Market Revenue Offsets VIP Gambling Slowdown

Casino operator Melco Resorts and Entertainment suffered from a slowdown in its VIP gambling operations in the last quarter of 2019. However, Melco Resorts mass market revenue made up for the shortcoming to improve its overall revenue.

According to the financial report released Thursday, MRE revenue improved 2.7 percent year-over-year to $1.45 billion in the last quarter of 2019. However, its operating income dropped 14.7 percent to 173.4 million. Also, its net income dropped by 46 percent to $68.1 million.

For the entire 2019, revenue improved 10.5 percent to $5.7 billion. Also, operating income grew almost 22 percent to $747.7 million. Lastly, profits went up 8.8 percent to $373.2 million.

Melco Resorts Mass Market Priority

Melco Resorts operates casinos in Macau, Cyprus, and Manila. The company avoided the headwinds in the last quarter by prioritizing its mass-market operations. As a result, it earned a total of £850 million from mass table operations. That was up 12 percent year-over-year. Also, it was a new company record, according to sports and gambling news.

The company beat betting odds through gains from its mass table. However, it was a different story regarding its VIP gambling side. VIP gambling revenue dropped in all markets except for the City of Dreams Macau, where it increased by almost 40 percent to $16 billion.

However, the VIP win rate dropped from 3.19 percent in the last quarter of 2018 to 2.65 percent in the last quarter of 2019. It was below the minimum theoretical win range. As a result, Macau’s adjusted earnings in the last quarter dropped 8.4 percent to $210.4 million.

Melco Resorts’ other properties had mixed revenue reports. The City of Dream Manila dropped one-fifth to $5.9 million. Also, Altira suffered a loss of one-third to $13.6 million. Studio City reported positive numbers with an increase of 14.3 percent to $117.4 million.