Tag: gross gaming revenue

Macau Problem Gambling Surges After Casinos Pivot to Public
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Posted on: January 22, 2026, 12:44h.

Last updated on: January 21, 2026, 03:11h.
- Macau is seeing more people than ever seeking help for their gambling disorders
- A record number of people self-excluded from casinos in 2025
Macau is experiencing a rise in problem gambling. The increase in the number of people seeking help for their gambling comes after the enclave’s casinos pivoted from the VIP and high roller to the premium mass and general public player.

People wait on a bus that’s enroute to Wynn Macau. Macau’s focus on the mass and general public is leading to higher rates of problem gambling in the Chinese region. (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Macau is the world’s richest casino market, with the six gaming operators combining to win $30.9 billion from their table games and slot machines in 2025. The $30.9 billion was the highest annual gross gaming revenue (GGR) mark since 2019.

How Macau’s casinos generate GGR, however, has changed drastically since the COVID-19 pandemic. Once a gambling hub largely reserved for Mainland China’s wealthiest elite, Beijing used the global health crisis to alter how Macau ticks.

The People’s Republic and President Xi Jinping shuttered the VIP junket model. The businesses were accused of facilitating the transfer of money from the communist regime to Macau, a Special Administration Region under Chinese control that’s considered a tax haven.

Junkets and Macau’s casinos colluded to bring mainland high rollers to the city. Customers were typically afforded a line of casino credit close to the amount of money they paid the junket for their lavish trip and accommodations. Such high rollers gambled in private rooms on high-stakes games of baccarat, with per-bet hands often upwards of $10,000.

Macau Problem Gambling

In exchange for 10-year casino license extensions, Beijing and Macau forced Sands, Wynn, MGM, Galaxy, Melco, and SJM to invest $16 billion in non-gaming projects. The agreement was designed to alter Macau from a high-stakes gambling paradise to a destination for leisure travel, family-friendly vacations, and business.

The VIP gambling rooms are largely no more. Macau casinos have instead widened their marketing focus, and, so far, their multibillion-dollar bets on non-gaming are helping drive gaming, too. But Macau government officials say it’s also driving gambling problems.

Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau reports that 828 people removed their access to casinos in 2025. In 2024, only 475 individuals requested self-exclusion.

During the seven years from 2013 through 2019, Macau’s self-exclusion program averaged 341 new enrollees each year. There were 254 self-exclusions in 2020, 359 in 2021, 292 in 2022, and 418 in 2023.

There were another 124 people who were excluded last year through third-party-initiated requests, typically a family member or close friend. The individual must agree to be excluded before a third-party application is executed.

The total number of exclusions includes exclusions requested by casinos. Excluded people are banned from entering casinos in Macau for a term of two years.

Macau Market Maturation

Following the overhaul of the Macau gaming industry, analysts at S&P are predicting a stabilization of gaming revenues after three years of growth.

Macau’s gaming boom is fading. The sector will be moving from a post-pandemic rebound to a more maturity-driven phase, as capacity limits and potentially softer mass demand temper growth,” the S&P note read.

“We think 2026 revenue growth will slow, but steady operations, selective share gains, and deleveraging still support modest upside,” the brokerage predicted.
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Devin O’Connor

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January 21, 2026
Illinois Casino Revenue Reaches a Record $1.9 Billion in 2025
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Posted on: January 12, 2026, 09:38h.

Last updated on: January 12, 2026, 10:30h.
- Illinois casino revenue reached $1.9 billion in 2025
- 2025 was a record year for Illinois casinos
- Concerns about VGTs in Chicago overshadow Bally’s $1.7 billion investment
Gamblers in Illinois lost more money than ever before in 2025 at the state’s 17 physical casinos.

Rivers Casino Des Plaines again led the Illinois casino market in annual gaming revenue in 2025. The state’s 17 casinos won more than $1.9 billion on their physical slot machines and table games. (Image: Shutterstock)

The Illinois Gaming Board reports that 2025 gross gaming revenue (GGR), or the amount of money the casinos kept after paying out winnings, totaled $1,943,722,561.89. The bulk of the winnings, about $1.49 billion, came on slot machines. Table games accounted for the remaining $457.8 million.

The more than $1.9 billion in casino revenue represented a 15% increase from 2024, when GGR totaled approximately $1.7 billion. The 2025 mark represents a 29% jump from 2023 win of $1.5 billion, and a nearly 44% surge from 2019 prepandemic revenue of $1.35 billion.

Rivers Casino Des Plaines remained the top casino in Illinois. The casino jointly owned by Churchill Downs and Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming reported GGR of $503 million for a 26% state market share.

Wind Creek Chicago Southland, which opened in November 2024, was next at $198 million.

State, Chicago Gaming Expansion

2025 marked the first full year for Wind Creek Chicago Southland, a $529 million facility that was authorized through Illinois’ 2019 gaming expansion package. The bill, part of Gov. JB Pritzker’s (D) “Rebuild Illinois” initiative, authorized five casinos in the Chicago suburbs and an integrated resort casino destination in downtown Chicago.

Last year was also the first full year for Hard Rock Casino Rockford. Hard Rock generated 2025 GGR of $146.2 million to place third.

Caesars’ Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin was fourth at $142.2 million, and the Bally’s Chicago temporary casino at the Medinah Temple, also authorized through the 2019 gaming bill, was fifth with GGR of $124.7 million.

Bally’s continues to make headway on its $1.7 billion permanent casino in Chicago’s River West neighborhood. Bally’s officials have an ambitious plan to open the resort by the end of the year.

The casino company continues to oppose efforts to allow slot-like video gaming terminals (VGTs) to come to the city proper. Chicago aldermen are pursuing VGTs as a much-needed revenue source, though Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) called the $16.6 billion budget passed by the City Council “morally bankrupt” because of relying on VGT gaming, among other things.

Through November, the most recently reported month, statewide VGT revenue in 2025 totaled more than $2.91 billion. In Aurora, one of the largest municipalities in the Chicago region with a population of about 200K people, 2025 VGT revenue in the city totaled more than $14.6 million.

Sports Concerns

While Illinois casino revenue continues to grow, there are concerns regarding the future of the state’s sports betting industry. As Casino.org’s Todd Shriber reported in November, the state’s recently implemented per-bet surcharge has led to fewer overall sports bets.

Illinois now imposes a 25-cent per-bet charge on a sportsbook’s first 20 million bets. The surcharge jumps to 50 cents after the operator exceeds 20 million bets in a year.

The Sports Betting Alliance, a coalition fighting for the expansion of sports gambling and favorable regulations, claims the per-bet charge led to five million fewer bets made in September 2025 than were placed in September 2024.
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Devin O’Connor

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January 12, 2026
Macau Economy Flourishing, as Visitation Hits Record
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Posted on: September 21, 2025, 09:40h.

Last updated on: September 21, 2025, 09:40h.
- Macau’s economy, unlike China’s, is thriving
- Gaming is rebounding, and visitation is at record levels
- Unemployment is low, and GDP is high
The economy in Macau is booming, with gross domestic product climbing more than 5% in the second quarter of 2025. Visitation is at an all-time high, and casino gaming revenue, the heartbeat of the Chinese Special Administrative Region (SAR), is nearing its return to pre-COVID-19 conditions.

Throngs of Chinese mainlanders await entry into Macau at the border checkpoint. Macau’s economy is on a comeback, with gaming nearing pre-COVID-19 conditions and visitor numbers already at record highs. (Image: Shutterstock)

July and August set new gross gaming revenue (GGR) post-COVID highs. Casino gamblers generated net win for the six gaming operators of $2.76 billion in July and $2.77 billion in August.

Year to date, Macau casino revenue is up 7.2% on the prior year to $20.36 billion. That is more than 82% of the amount of gaming money the six casinos won in 2019 through August.

Gaming analysts and brokerages are amending their full-year GGR outlook positively, as the city’s casinos have successfully managed to turn their attention away from the VIP high roller to the mass and premium mass markets, as well as the leisure and business travel sectors.

Visitation Hits Record

Macau casinos can no longer rely on high rollers to keep their properties afloat. VIP junket groups are largely no more, with the travel organizers seeking Asian gaming markets not under China’s control.

Macau, which remains the world’s richest gaming market in terms of casino revenue, has invested many billions of dollars in nongaming amenities. Most notable has been the region’s quick embrace of K-pop, with its resorts’ many large theaters hosting prominent acts and events, including this weekend’s Fact Music Awards at the government’s newly opened Outdoor Performance Venue.

The Macau Statistics and Census Bureau reports that August visitation reached a record 4,219,034 people. An 18.4% year-over-year rise, last month brought year-to-date visitation to almost 26.7 million visitors, a 15% surge from 2024.

Economic Data Points

By most critical data points, Macau’s economy is strong. Inflation in July was just 0.12%, and the city’s unemployment rate for its nearly 686K residents stands at just 2.6%.

The median monthly income is up to $2,222, almost $100 higher than in December 2019. Hotel occupancy rate in July was 91%, on par with pre-COVID levels.

While China’s economy has failed to stimulate a sustained post-pandemic recovery, with factory and mining output decelerating in August, it’s a different story in Macau.

Amid the global health scare, Macau announced a diversification plan to reduce its reliance on casino gambling, which had accounted for more than 80 cents of every tax dollar the local SAR government had received. Macau has invested in integrated tourism, or special events, including large-scale business gatherings and conventions, plus so-called “health tourism.”

Macau has also successfully integrated its economy with the Greater Bay Area, with the government investing in initiatives to attract companies invested in the technology and trade industries. Macau has also established a free trade zone with neighboring Hengqin Island, where land is more available for the city’s ongoing economic ambitions.

Macau is more accessible than ever before, too. A record number of Chinese mainland cities are eligible for Individual Visit Scheme visas, which allow people to travel in and out of Hong Kong and/or Macau not in a group. Macau and Hong Kong, since 2018, have also been connected by the 34-mile Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.
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Devin O’Connor

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September 21, 2025