Asia
Macau Gaming Revenue Drops 87.8% in February Amid Casino Shutdown
Macau gross gaming revenue (GGR) has declined 87.8% in February in year-on-year terms.
The GGR was MOP3.10 billion (US$387 million), according to data issued on Sunday by the city’s casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, a body also known as DICJ.
The latest monthly result puts the market’s accumulated 2020 year-on-year decline at 49.9%, to MOP25.23 billion. The GGR decline coincided with the city’s government announcing that the city’s casinos would have to close for a 15-day period from the stroke of midnight on February 5.
Some of the city’s casinos started to reopen on February 20, but the government gave operators the option of applying for a grace period of up to 30 days before relaunch.
Only 29 of the 39 active casinos in the city reopened on February 20, with eight additional venues resuming operations last week. As of Friday, only two of the city’s active casinos were yet to reopen, according to the casino regulator.
Brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd had estimated February casino GGR in Macau “to be down 90 percent,” with March potentially “down 80 percent,” assuming no significant improvement in travel arrangements.