Macau Casinos See Revenue Decline For Nine Consecutive Months

Published: 06/07/2020

Reading Time: 4 Min

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The impact of the novel coronavirus on almost all types of businesses is unprecedented. Investors and business owners around the world are struggling to survive the massive decline in revenue.

Casinos in Macau are among the business establishments hardly hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic. Operators experienced their worst loss in history.

The spread of the deadly disease in March shut down the operations of casinos worldwide. The gambling establishments remained closed for nearly four months because of government mandates to temporarily shut down to curve the spread of the deadly disease. The casinos continued paying for taxes and wages despite the shutdown.

Business gradually resumed in many places after the government decided to lift some of the restrictions. Many casinos in the US, Europe, and other places started accepting back patrons to recover their losses from the months of no operation. Macau reopened its casinos last month.

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Revenue continued falling after reopening

The casino industry worldwide worked hard to survive the shutdown. The sector saw hope when guests lined up in the casino entrance during the reopening. However, the actual market figure showed that recovery is a long journey for many casinos, including Macau.

Macau is known as the world’s largest gambling market.

The industry reported $89.7 million last month, a decline of nearly 97 percent to the year-over-year revenue of around $3billion in the same month the previous year.

Macau casino’s revenue continued to drop for nine succeeding months. Revenue fell massive in May, collected $21 million in revenue, which is an enormous decline of nearly 93 percent. The casino industry in Macau started falling when the US-China began last year. The protests in Hong Kong against China is also considered as one of the factors for the decline.

The novel coronavirus added to the burden for the casino industry. The lockdowns caused a massive decline in the industry’s revenue. The government imposed strict restrictions on travel, which restricted patrons and gamblers from visiting the casinos. Getting a visa is difficult in the last three months

Lifting restrictions could help rebound of the industry

Many believed that the industry could recover fast if restrictions on travel are lifted. However, the continuous spread of the novel coronavirus restricts the government from allowing the travel. Globally, new cases of the novel coronavirus continue rising.

There are nearly 11 million confirmed cases of novel coronavirus worldwide, with more than half a million dead. The United States reported nearly 300,000 cases, with more than 130,000 deaths. Macau is one of the places with small cases of the virus. There are only 46 cases in the city without reports of casualties.

Business operations in the city continued to reopen, allowing indoor activities to operate. Macau started lifting restrictions in April and since then allowed businesses to operate. The territory has one of the most effective preventive measures, which caused lesser cases of the virus.

The global fight against the deadly virus continues while cure and vaccination are out of hand. Experts are still racing to develop the vaccine. Many believe that things will not come back to normal until next year.