The collection of almost 40 casinos in Macau reportedly had a good August after seeing their monthly aggregated gross gaming revenues sequentially increase by an impressive 450% to top $270.8 million.

According to a report from GGRAsia citing official information from the enclave’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau regulator, the figure followed a preceding month in which combined gaming receipts hit an all-time low of just $49.2 million owing to the implementation of a local coronavirus-related shutdown that ran for the eleven days from July 11. Despite the optimism and the source detailed that the August figure still represents a decline of 50.7% year-on-year and stands almost 91% below the around $3 billion that was chalked up for the same 31-day period in pre-pandemic 2019.

Long-term lag:

Macau is reportedly home to approximately 682,000 people while its 37 casinos are run by six firms encompassing Galaxy Entertainment Group Limited, SJM Holdings Limited, MGM China Holdings Limited, Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited, Sands China Limited and Wynn Macau Limited. These operators are purportedly preparing to bid for the right to have their current concessions officially extended by a further ten years despite the territory having just recorded an eight-month aggregated gross gaming revenues tally that is some 53.4% lower than the analogous $7.6 billion reckoning seen for 2021.

Concerning correlation:

Analysts Shirley Yang, Louis Li and Vitaly Umansky from prominent Asian brokerage firm Sanford C Bernstein Limited reportedly used an official filing to declare that Macau’s daily aggregated gross gaming revenues hit roughly $8.7 million last month, which was nonetheless ‘still lower than the May level’ of at least $12.3 million. The three purportedly furthermore divulged that anyone travelling into mainland China from the former Portuguese enclave had remained subject to quarantining in the city of Zhuhai up to August 3.

The filing from the Sanford C Bernstein Limited trio reportedly read…

“The recovery is still constrained by travel restrictions and coronavirus outbreaks and lockdowns in mainland China with customers remaining cautious to travel for fear of the government suddenly imposing lockdown orders.”

Timely travelers:

GGRAsia reported that Macau’s latest monthly aggregated gross gaming revenues reckoning coincided with an expansion in the number of inbound tourists following a July in which the city had welcomed a mere 9,759 visitors. The Macao Government Tourism Office purportedly last week disclosed that 103,162 people had crossed into the enclave over the course of the six days from August 20 to produce a daily average of 14,737, which equated to a swell of 18% when compared with the 12,485 figure seen for the preceding week.