MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle says Macau promotions stable as VIPs return

MGM Resorts CEO and President Bill Hornbuckle said Macau’s once-frenzied promotional environment has settled into a rhythm, even as competition intensifies with the return of VIP customers.

Speaking at the Bank of America Securities 2025 Gaming & Lodging Conference, Hornbuckle credited MGM’s efforts in redesigning its casino floors and expanding premium inventory for lifting its market share in Macau from below 10% before the pandemic to well above 16% today.

“We got very aggressive on the casino floor with what our product needed and wanted to be, and we changed a bunch of things: how we fed people on the floor, how the floor is designed, the padding in the carpet which believe it or not is a real discussion, the lighting, the correlation between how you position the games,” Bill said.

“We went deeply into that in the context of asking customers what they wanted to see, what they wanted to do, what they wanted to participate in, and I think we’ve been rewarded for it. Now others are following suit, and that’s not a surprise,” he added.

Hornbuckle said Macau’s government oversight is helping prevent promotions from spiralling, adding: “Fortunately, although it’s always aggressive in Macau, we haven’t seen it creep out of control, so I think there is a check and balance on that.”

MGM has expanded its premium offerings with new villas and suites at MGM Macau and MGM Cotai, while also adding 100 new tables and repurposing another 100 that were previously tied to junkets. “We were under-suited and we are under-roomed given our scale, and we have outperformed,” he said.

The return of high rollers has added momentum to Macau’s recovery. “What’s happened is the junket tiers have obviously now gone, but VIP customers are still coming – and in mass,” Hornbuckle said, noting increased play from Southeast Asia and other markets.

Hornbuckle said relaxed Chinese travel policies have also supported the rebound. “If you go back a year or two years ago, they were telling the individual person, ‘I’m sorry, you’ve been to Macau four times, you can’t go a fifth time’. All of that has stopped for now, and I think they’re letting the market run," the executive explained.

He expects MGM’s Macau operations to reach margins of around 28% and sees growth potential for the city’s gaming market, which he pegged at an annual run rate of just over $30 billion. “It won’t be $45 billion anytime soon, but I think that’s the reality that we all understand,” he said.