Gaming | Wynn reports $154 million in first quarter losses

Local casino operator Wynn Macau has reported $154.1 million (1.23 billion patacas) in losses for the first quarter of this year, down from $190.6 million in profit a year earlier.
However, adjusted EBITDA remained positive at $29.4 million, even as it was down 92.4% from the $386.5 million a year earlier.
The drastic shift in net profit is in line with other casinos operators in the SAR, which have struggled to adjust to near-zero levels of tourism caused by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Most of the operator’s income is thought to have come in the first month of the year, after February and March reported a collapse in visitation to the SAR.
Visitor arrivals in March dropped 93.7% in year-on-year terms in March, marking only a minor improvement over February, when casinos were forcibly closed for 15 days.
In its 2019 annual report filed last month, American parent Wynn Resorts said the coronavirus was having an “adverse effect” on the group’s business and that it was not certain that demand for gambling in Macau would recover quickly even after certain business conditions improve.
On Wednesday, Wynn Resorts announced that it had suspended its quarterly dividend program “due to the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.” DB