Macau’s gross gaming revenue declined by 90.0% year-on-year to MOP$2.21 billion (US$277 million) in September as GGR showed its first small signs of recovery since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The figure, published by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, represents a substantial improvement over August when Macau’s GGR declined 94.5% to MOP$1.33 billion (US$167 million). It is also the first time since March that the year-on-year decline has fallen below 90% (the precise decline is 89.99%).
September’s GGR figure comes after China reinstated the Individual Visit Scheme for residents of Zhuhai from 12 August, all of Guangdong Province from 26 August and all of mainland China from 23 September. The first IVS applications for Guangdong residents were approved on 1 September.
IVS accounted for 46.8% of the 27.9 million mainland Chinese visitors to enter Macau in 2019.
For the first nine months of 2020, Macau’s GGR is down 82.5% year-on-year to MOP$38.61 billion (US$4.84 billion) compared with MOP$220.30 billion (US$27.60 billion) over the same period in 2019.
