Macau’s gross gaming revenues continue to plummet, with lower visitation as a result of tightened border restrictions with Guangdong Province resulting in a 24% decline in GGR over the past week compared with the previous seven days.
According to brokerage Bernstein’s weekly Macau GGR update, average daily revenue from 15 to 20 June fell from MOP$219 million (US$27.4 million) in the previous week to just MOP$167 million (US$20.9 million) – down almost 51% compared with May’s average.
Month to date, GGR is down 74% compared to June 2019 and 39% on May to MOP$4.1 billion (US$513 million), with VIP volume said to be down 40% month-on-month and daily mass GGR down between 32% and 35% versus May. This is on the back of a substantial decline in traffic into Macau, with just 31,400 arrivals and departures combined each day from 11 to 17 June – down 21% on the prior week and down 41% on May’s daily average.
The decline in visitation is the result of a recent outbreak of COVID-19 in the cities of Guangzhou and Foshan, with Macau currently requiring travellers from five cities in Guangdong Province to quarantine for 14 days and all arrivals to present a negative test acquired within the previous 48 hours.
Although Guangdong authorities are confident they are now on top of the outbreak, Bernstein’s Vitaly Umansky, Louis Li and Kelsey Zhu predict a GGR decline in the mid-70% range for the month versus June 2019, which would represent a 40% decline compared with May 2021.
