Macau’s casinos took in 3.1 billion patacas in February 2020, about $387 million. A year earlier the figure was 25.4 billion. The drop: 87.8 percent.
The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, the local casino regulator, reported the numbers. The cause was a 15-day shutdown that began on Feb. 5. Casinos reopened on Feb. 20, but travel restrictions stayed in place, and operators were limited in how many tables they could run and how many seats each table could have.
A market already sliding
Macau is the only place in China where gambling is legal. Revenue there had been falling for months before the virus arrived, as a weaker Chinese economy and the trade war with the United States cut into local business and tourism. The outbreak piled onto that. Analysts now expected China’s economy to shrink for the first time since comparable records began in 2011.
Operators felt the closure daily. Wynn Resorts said it was costing as much as $2.6 million a day. Las Vegas Sands, which gets 64 percent of its revenue from Macau, was exposed too.
Jobs and the regulator
One junket operator laid off 200 workers, a quarter of its staff, after the closure. It later rehired all 200 once the regulator stepped in. In a letter to the six casino license holders, the Bureau wrote that “in this difficult period, companies should make every effort to ensure the employment of employees and maintain a stable labor market.” It added that “maintaining social responsibility is one of the priorities of the Macau SAR Government.”
The same junket operator has reportedly closed three VIP rooms, at Altira (Melco Resort & Entertainment), Grand Lisboa (SJM Holdings) and Wynn Macau.
What analysts expect
Nobody was forecasting a quick bounce. Analysts expected March gambling revenue to come in 70 percent below the previous year, and the second quarter to fall 35 percent. For the full year, they put the decline at 24 percent.
Sources
- COVID-19 Sends Macau Casino Revenue Plunging 88% in February | The Motley Fool
- Macau regulators call on casinos to maintain staffing levels amid coronavirus slowdown | Yogonet International
Sources
- COVID-19 Sends Macau Casino Revenue Plunging 88% in February
- Macau regulators call on casinos to maintain… | Yogonet International
