One of Macau’s casino
operators is offering mini versions of Labubus in its latest marketing campaign
for gamblers, alongside a prize draw for a Rolex Daytona.
According to Citi
analysts George Choi and Timothy Chau, MGM China Holdings was the casino
operator adopting these marketing strategies, which ‘involve player point
redemption for mini Labubu’.
‘[…] are not expected
to cost them an arm and a leg,’ they wrote in a recent note.
Labubu is a collectible
toy first conceptualised in 2015 by Hong Kong artist Kasing Kung who sought
inspiration from Nordic folklore.
It catapulted to fame
after gaining increased visibility via Chinese toy giant Pop Mart, with many
world-famous celebrities donning figurines from the franchise.
‘It looks like MGM is
the first casino operator to offer mini Labubu for point redemption by players,
impressively only a few days after mini Labubu was launched on August 29th,’
the analysts wrote.
‘Also, to encourage players to wager more on side bets, MGM is doing a lucky draw in which players wagering HK$5,000 (US$641.85/MOP5,136.65) or more on side bets a hand will get a chance to win a Rolex Daytona.’
Sands Macao has
recently begun dishing out Portuguese tarts to the passengers of its two new
shuttle routes.
The new services, which
kicked off early this month, primarily run across the ZAPE and NAPE districts
between noontime and midnight.
Citi’s recent survey
for September concluded a year-on-year hike in premium mass wager – despite a
fall of 18 per cent in such players from a year earlier.
‘[…] the 27% YoY
increase in aerage wager/player (a metric to measure player quality) more than
offsets it,’ the analysts pointed out.
They also said that
they witnessed a ‘HK$2 million wagering whale in a seasonally slow month’.
The surveyors observed
a total of 27 whales, with each of them betting HK$100,000 or more.
The figure was 21 last
year.
As for the HK$2 million
whale, they were spotted at the ‘Venetian High Limit Area’ – the fifth time
over the last six months that the wager by the ‘Player of the Month’ exceeded
HK$ 1 million.
This makes Sands China
the top performer in Citi’s premium mass survey, with a 35 percent market share
observed.
Trailing behind was Galaxy
Entertainment Group, which had a 20 percent market share.