The many casinos in Macau reportedly saw their aggregated gross gaming revenues for March drop by 55.8% year-on-year to a little over $454.9 million as China continued to enforce a range of coronavirus-related mainland travel restrictions.

According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming citing official information from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau regulator, the monthly tally was the lowest for casinos in the former Portuguese enclave since September of 2020 when the finishing figure came in at a very disappointing $273.9 million. The source detailed that the most recent reckoning also represented a decrease of 52.6% when compared with the $961.4 million seen for February while standing almost 42.2% below January’s $786.1 million finish.

Combined calamity:

Macau is home to over 40 casinos operated by MGM China Holdings Limited, Galaxy Entertainment Group Limited, Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited and SJM Holdings Limited in addition to the local Wynn Macau Limited and Sands China Limited subordinates of Wynn Resorts Limited and Las Vegas Sands Corporation respectively. The March figure reportedly means that these many properties have now seen their three-month aggregated gross gaming revenues plummet by 24.8% year-on-year to sit at slightly over $2.2 billion.

Expert evaluation:

Vitaly Umansky from global investments research firm Sanford C Bernstein Limited reportedly used an official filing to declare that the recent drop in Macau’s aggregated gross gaming revenues has come as a result of the ‘tightened border policy’ put in place by China following a rise in the number of local coronavirus infections. The Hong Kong-headquartered analyst purportedly went on to pronounce that this has been ‘the main dragger’ for the city’s monthly casino receipts as mainland travellers continue to account for almost the entirety of its gambling clientele.

Umansky reportedly stated…

“Many Chinese provinces are still imposing lockdowns and travel restrictions to control coronavirus outbreaks and since March 18 travellers crossing the Zhuhai land border must present coronavirus test certificates issued within 24 hours. This is not likely to relax soon as Zhuhai is still reporting local cases.”

Future fall:

For its part and Asian Gaming Brief used its own report to predict that Macau is now likely to see its aggregated gross gaming revenues for April slip by at least 60% year-on-year to sit somewhere in the region of $409.2 million. Umansky purportedly moreover told this source that the coming tally ‘is likely to be constrained by the coronavirus situation’ and could sink even lower over the course of the next few months ‘if further travel tightening occurs.’