Macau’s casino operators saw gaming revenues plummet over the past week, with tightened border restrictions due to a recent COVID-19 outbreak in neighboring Zhuhai seeing a 53% decline in GGR compared with the previous seven days.
Based on its weekly channel checks, brokerage Bernstein said gross gaming revenues from 17 to 23 January fell from a daily average of MOP$244 million (US$30.5 million) in the previous week to just MOP$114 million (US$14.2 million).
This was, Bernstein analysts said, due to visitation being “constrained by tightened border controls (24-hour COVID negative test) and travel advisories [increasing] in China.”
While the Zhuhai outbreak has since eased, with no new cases reported Sunday, rising case numbers in Hong Kong are likely to further delay the reopening of borders between the two SARs.
Month to date, Macau GGR is estimated at MOP$4.9 billion (US$612 million) with the average daily rate of MOP$213 million (US$27 million) representing a 17% decline versus December 2021 and a 74% decline versus January 2019.
VIP is down more than 50% on December following the collapse of Macau’s junket industry while mass GGR is down around 10% month-on-month.
Bernstein predicts January 2022 GGR will come in around 28% lower than December 2021 and 77% down on January 2019.
