Macau’s gross gaming revenue plummeted 57% week-on-week in the seven-day period from 14 to 20 February, impacted by post-Chinese New Year (CNY) seasonality, low VIP hold and another positive COVID-19 case in neighboring Zhuhai.
The weekly estimate formed the crux of brokerage Bernstein’s weekly GGR update, with channel checks showing an average daily rate (ADR) of MOP$184 million (US$23 million) compared with MOP$428 million (US$53 million) in the prior week period.
Macau GGR had shown solid growth since the start of CNY but has been affected by China’s increasing wariness of the Omicron outbreak currently impacting Hong Kong.
The week-on-week decline was therefore larger than anticipated, “partly due to new COVID case in Zhuhai and greater travel tightening due to Hong Kong outbreaks and concern about spread into China,” said Bernstein analyst Vitaly Umansky.
“China’s COVID outbreak is largely under control, but the largest feeder market, Guangdong, is still reporting occasional local cases and the land border city, Zhuhai, again reported a local case on Feb 18 … Guangdong is now facing the pressure of imported cases from Hong Kong, impacting visitation.”
VIP hold was also substantially down on recent weeks, Umansky said.
On that basis, he puts Macau’s month-to-date GGR at MOP$6.3 billion (US$784 million) at an ADR of MOP$315 million (US$39 million) – down 65% versus February 2019 but 21% higher than February 2021.
February GGR is now tipped to come in 29% higher than January’s GGR of MOP$6.34 billion (US$793 million), revised down from 45% growth “due to the worsened COVID situation in Guangdong and drop in player visitation.”
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