In Macau and aggregated gross gaming revenues for August reportedly increased by some 234% year-on-year to top $554.49 million despite the disruption associated with a minor outbreak of coronavirus in neighboring China.

According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming citing official information from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau regulator, the figure for the 31-day period represented the seventh consecutive month of year-on-year improvements and took the former Portuguese enclave’s associated eight-month tally up by 70.1% to approximately $7.72 billion. The source detailed that all of this comes after the city experienced a coronavirus-impacted 2020 in which its annual aggregated gross gaming revenues finished 79.3% down at approximately $7.54 billion.

Chronological conundrum:

Macau is home to over 40 casinos including the iconic Casino Grand Lisboa venue from SJM Holdings Limited as well as Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited’s even larger Studio City Macau development. Despite the year-on-year swell for August and the source furthermore reported that the final result nevertheless equated to a diminution of nearly 47.4% when compared with July’s ultimate tally of just over $1.05 billion and denoted the lowest reckoning since the about $276 million chalked up for September of last year.

Pandemic precautions:

The government of Macau reportedly reacted to a small June outbreak of coronavirus in China by introducing a series of travel safeguards that required arrivals from a number of mainland cities to quarantine for a minimum of two weeks. The territory then purportedly instituted a mass testing blitz of residents early last month after it chalked up its first positive case in over a year that was subsequently linked to a family of four that had crossed the border so as to visit friends in the nearby metropolis of Zhuhai.

Inside Asian Gaming reported that this offensive consequently uncovered no new cases of coronavirus but included strict provisions that tightened arrival restrictions for mainland tourists and reduced the validity period for requisite negative infection tests from seven days to just 48 hours. The source also explained that most of these controls have since been lifted to help the territory’s daily cross-border visitation rate once again top an impressive 21,000.

Appreciated appearance:

Macau’s August result could have moreover reportedly been helped by the recent premiere of the $5 billion Grand Lisboa Palace development from local operator SJM Holdings Limited. This mammoth facility has been over seven years in the making and debuted on July 30 featuring a 290,000 sq ft casino that could eventually play host to as many as 1,200 slots in addition to 500 gaming tables.