Macau’s daily gross gaming revenue just about doubled in the seven days from 18 to 24 October 2021 when compared with the previous week, buoyed by the easing of border restrictions with mainland China, according to a note from brokerage Bernstein.
Average daily GGR reached an estimated MOP$157 million (US$20 million) per day in the past week verses MOP$79 million (US$10 million) prior as visitor arrivals showed significant improvement across the weekend.
As reported by IAG, the daily visitor tally reached 25,252 last Friday – the highest single day figure since Zhuhai slapped a mandatory quarantine measure on all arrivals from Macau on 25 September. Those measures were dropped on 19 October.
While the past week has seen GGR rebound, Bernstein said October’s revenues for the first 24 days of the month are still down 86% to MOP$2.9 billion (US$363 million) compared with October 2019. The daily average of MOP$121 million (US$15 million) is also 38% lower than September’s average of MOP$196 million (US$24.5 million).
Bernstein said VIP daily volumes are down 45% month-on-month and mass down 40%. However, on the first full day of quarantine-free travel with China on 20 October, Macau’s cross border entry/exit figures were only 8% lower than September and 48% higher than in August, which was also impacted by a COVID-19 outbreak.
“We forecast October GGR to be down over 80% [in October 2021] vs October 2019 and expect GGR improvement (which has just begun) to continue in November-December, but more significant travel impediment removals are not likely until next year,” said analysts Vitaly Umansky, Louis Li and Kelsey Zhu.
“Longer term, IVS eVisa and group visa restart and Hong Kong travel resumption will be necessary to drive GGR upwards.”
