Macau’s gross gaming revenue fell 47.4% in August when compared with July to MOP$4.44 billion (US$554 million), negatively impacted by an outbreak of COVID-19 across parts of mainland China that limited travel and saw border restrictions temporarily tightened.
According to information published by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, the August figures represented a 234% improvement over August 2020, when Macau recorded GGR of just MOP$1.33 billion (US$166 million).
However it is also the lowest GGR result since September 2020 when the DICJ reported revenue of just MOP$2.21 billion (US$276 million).
For the first eight months of 2021 combined, Macau has recorded GGR of MOP$61.9 billion (US$7.72 billion), up 70.1% over the same period last year.
The month-on-month decline comes after 17 provinces in China detected positive COVID-19 cases from late July, with Macau also reporting its first cases in more than a year – a family of four who had recently visited Zhuhai.
A mass testing blitz of all Macau residents ultimately found no new cases but that didn’t stop border restrictions from tightening with any arrivals from certain mainland cities required to enter hotel quarantine and the validity period of COVID-19 tests for all arrivals reduced from 7 days to 48 hours.
Most of those restrictions have since been lifted.
