Macau saw its gross gaming revenues fall by 79.7% year-on-year to MOP$5.26 billion in March, according to data released by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau on Wednesday, as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent border restrictions continue to bite.
The result was only marginally better than February’s GGR figure, which saw a decline of 87.8% to MOP$3.10 billion but also included the closure of all gaming operations city-wide for 15 days.
For the first three months of 2020, Macau’s GGR is down 60.0% to MOP$30.49 billion compared with MOP$76.15 billion over the same period in 2019.
Gaming analysts had previously reported that casino revenue had been gradually improving through much of March following the re-opening of casinos on 20 February and the absence of any new confirmed cases of coronavirus for more than a month, but the decision by Macau authorities on 23 March to implement a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all arrivals, and a similar decision just two days later by Guangdong Province to quarantine arrivals from Macau and Hong Kong, saw visitation plummet to new lows.
The number of people entering Macau fell to 580 last Friday 27 March, and then to just 230 on Sunday – the lowest figure ever recorded since the Public Security Police Force began keeping tally.
By comparison, Macau averaged around 108,000 visitors a day in 2019.
