• October 2025 was Macau’s best gaming month since the COVID-19 pandemic
• Economists say China’s economic resiliency was on display in the third quarter, leading to higher domestic spending

The Macau casino rally continued in October, as the six gaming licensees posted their best month since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The exterior of The Londoner Macau, a lavish integrated resort casino on the Cotai Strip. Macau casino revenue reached its highest post-pandemic mark in October 2025. (Image: Shutterstock)

The city’s Gaming and Inspection Coordination Bureau reports that gross gaming revenue (GGR), or revenue from “games of fortune,” as the regulatory calls table games and slot machines, totaled MOP24.086 billion (US$3.01 billion). The October tally marked the enclave’s best gaming month since pre-pandemic October 2019.

October 2025 topped August, previously the best gaming month in the coronavirus’ aftermath, where casino win reached $2.76 billion. After a slow start, Macau casino revenue has grown year-over-year for nine consecutive months.

October was a 15.9% improvement on the prior year. The median analyst expectation was 11.7% year-over-year growth. Last month’s $3.01 billion represented 91.2% of October 2019’s GGR of $3.3 billion.  

Golden Week Brings Prosperity 

October benefits annually from Golden Week, the Oct. 1-8 holiday that celebrates the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1, 1949. The weeklong celebration affords most workers paid time off, which stimulates travel across the mainland and to China’s two special administrative regions, Macau and Hong Kong.

October likely would have been even better in terms of visitor arrivals and gaming revenue had it not been for a typhoon disruption in late September that saw Macau’s casinos shutter for 33 hours for people to shelter in place.

Though Typhoon Ragasa largely spared Macau, aside from some flooding in low-lying areas, the storm hit the neighboring Chinese province of Guangdong hard. Yangjiang was among the hardest-hit cities, with widespread damage across the region that likely canceled many Golden Week travel plans.

October more than maintained the Macau casino recovery. It fueled what analysts project as a strong conclusion to the city’s most significant post-pandemic economic rebound.

Through 10 months, GGR is up 8% from 2024, a difference of more than $1.91 billion. 

China’s Resilient Economy

There have been worries that the world’s second-largest economy was facing uncertainty. Regularly cited concerns included slowing exports, US tariffs, and weakening domestic spending.

As 2025 nears its end, analysts say China has largely managed to weather the economic headwinds.

Better-than-expected third-quarter GDP growth of 4.8% year over year kept China’s 5% annual growth target within reach. Robust export activity continued to support industrial production despite mounting global trade uncertainty,” Vanguard Senior Economist Grant Feng wrote in an October economic outlook.

Feng said rising global trade barriers are of utmost concern for China’s near-term economy. But last week, President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping said their meeting was a success. The two leaders reportedly agreed on a number of items, including the resumption of US soybean sales to China and a short-term deal for access to rare earth minerals.

Trump agreed to loosen his fentanyl-related tariffs on China, which should ease tensions between the two superpowers. Xi reportedly agreed to work with Trump on the deadly fentanyl crisis. China is the world’s largest exporter of the precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl. As a result, Trump had previously proposed tariffs as high as 100% on Chinese imports.

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