Macau’s gross gaming revenue has continued to show steady improvement over the first eight days of November, rising an estimated 13% compared with the final three weeks of October to around MOP$2 billion, or MOP$250 million per day, according to analysts.
The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau last week reported GGR for the month of September of MOP$7.27 billion at around MOP$242 million per day – additionally boosted by Golden Week which ran from 1 to 7 October.
In a Monday note, Bernstein analysts Vitaly Umansky, Tianjiao Yu and Kelsey Zhu said GGR through 8 November was down 67% compared with the same period in 2019 based on their channel checks, improved from a 72.5% decline in October, with daily visitation into Macau having now trended up to around 40,000 per day.
“We expect visitation to continue to increase over the next few weeks and months with a pickup in gaming visitors, as visa processing improves overtime,” they stated in reference to the recent resumption of the Individual Visit Scheme for all of mainland China.
“The key jump in visitors will come when visa processing becomes same day and via e-kiosk again, which may take some time.”
JP Morgan’s DS Kim, Derek Choi and Jeremy An said VIP turnover had returned to 25% of pre-COVID levels, matching volumes highlighted by Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox during the company’s 3Q20 earnings call last week, with mass back to 35%.
The analysts are estimating a year-on-year GGR decline for Macau of 60% to 65% in November, improving to between 50% and 55% in December.
