The over 40 casinos in Macau reportedly saw their combined 2020 contribution to the local economy drop by 79.6% year-on-year to around $5.22 billion as the coronavirus pandemic sent visitor numbers plummeting.

According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming citing official information from the enclave’s Statistics and Census Bureau, the gross surplus held by the nine entities licensed to operate some form of gaming in Macau in 2020 decreased by 87.9% year-on-year to about $2.76 billion. The source also detailed that the industry’s analogous gross surplus ratio, which is a measure of how effectively receipts are converted into excess, declined by 26.1 percentage points to 36.1%.

Pandemic pause:

Macau is home to some of the world’s largest and most prestigious casinos including the iconic Casino Grand Lisboa from SJM Holdings Limited and Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited’s mammoth Studio City Macau. However, every one of these gambling-friendly facilities were closed for a two-week period in February of last year due to coronavirus with their subsequent aggregated gross gaming revenues being consistently dour as a direct result of a range of new travel restrictions and increased public health and social distancing protocols.

Negative news:

The Statistics and Census Bureau reportedly explained that these added barriers hindered business volumes throughout 2020 and caused associated annual aggregated gross gaming revenues from Macau’s club of licensed casino operators to fall by 78.4% year-on-year to approximately $7.97 billion. The authority purportedly moreover disclosed that related gaming receipts for last year descended by 79.4% to roughly $7.52 billion as rental takings sunk by 29.1% to somewhere in the region of $4.74 million.

Obvious overheads:

Inside Asian Gaming reported that Macau’s gaming industry additionally saw its total 2020 expenditure deteriorate by 60.6% year-on-year to around $5.79 billion, which included an 83.3% dip in combined customer rebates, commissions and purchases to $1.18 billion. To make matters worse and the source divulged that the small enclave’s many casinos simultaneously experienced a plunge of 68.8% to $1.24 billion in aggregated operating expenses as the total amount they spent on complimentary goods and dwindled by 74.5% to just $579 million.

Finally, the Statistics and Census Bureau reportedly revealed that the Macau gaming sector’s aggregated 2020 salary tally had tumbled by 12.5% year-on-year to $2.46 billion although is total expenditure share expanded by 23.4 percentage points to top 42%.

Prominent payer:

Despite all of these downturns and Inside Asian Gaming finished by reporting that the gaming industry managed to keep its position as the primary source of tax revenues for the government of Macau last year at well over 70% although its $3.73 billion contribution equated to a year-on-year decline of some 73.6%.