Macau October Gaming Revenue Falls 10% to MOP21.68bn Despite Golden Week Lift

^{The Cotai Strip in Macau, where casino revenue fell 10% year on year in October 2026. (Photo: Doraemon.tvb / Wikimedia Commons)}

Macau's casinos generated MOP21.68 billion (about US$2.7 billion) in gross gaming revenue in October 2026, a 10.0% fall on October 2025, according to figures from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ). It was the fifth month in a row of year-on-year decline, even though the month included the seven-day National Day Golden Week holiday.

Revenue did recover from September. The DICJ table puts October at MOP21,680 million against MOP18,063 million in September, a rise of 20.0%. Compared with a year earlier, MOP24,086 million, the shortfall is about MOP2.4 billion. Averaged per day, that is roughly MOP699 million in October against MOP602 million in September, going by the monthly totals.

Fifth Straight Annual Decline

The DICJ data show Macau grew in each of the first five months of 2026, led by a 24.0% jump in January. Since then the year-on-year changes have been a 12.1% fall in June, 8.4% in July, 1.2% in both August and September, and now 10.0% in October. Only June has seen a steeper drop this year.

Part of the pressure is the comparison. October 2025 was the strongest month of that year up to that point, at just over MOP24 billion. Events such as the NBA China Games at The Venetian Macao early in the month also helped October beat September, but not last year.

The result fell below the analyst range. CLSA had held its October forecast flat on the year at MOP24.1 billion and said market estimates ran from a 3.5% decline to 4% growth, so the actual 10.0% fall landed well outside the expected band for the month.

Year to Date Still Ahead

Cumulative gross gaming revenue for January to October reached MOP208,796 million, up 1.6% on the MOP205,427 million recorded in the same period of 2025. That cushion has narrowed steadily since the spring, when year-to-date growth was above 10%.

To hit the government's 2026 budget forecast of MOP236 billion, Macau's casinos would need about MOP27.2 billion across November and December combined.

Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai said on 10 October that October's performance would be important in deciding whether the target could be kept, according to reports of his remarks. That works out at roughly MOP13.6 billion a month, well below October's MOP21.68 billion and September's MOP18.06 billion, so the target looks reachable on recent run rates.

Context for the Market

Baccarat has long set the pace for the territory, as our earlier first-half coverage showed. Macau has also been pushing diversification beyond gaming, and it recently launched a 20 billion pataca guidance fund with six casino operators as the first private investors.

The next DICJ monthly table, covering November, is due on or around 1 December 2026. It will show whether October's Golden Week and event-led lift carries into a quieter month, and whether the government keeps its full-year forecast, which Sam Hou Fai had said would be reviewed once the October figures were in.