Golden Week casino revenues at MOP1.7b

The city’s casinos are seeing daily average revenues double when compared to the first nine days of September.

A note issued by JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd stated that aggregate casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the first nine days of the month was MOP1.7 billion, which is approximately MOP190 million a day.

However, this figure was only about 15% to 20% of pre-Covid levels on Golden Week, when daily GGR had achieved the MOP1 billion mark. 

“By segment, we estimate mass GGR has recovered to 30% to 35% of pre-Covid Golden Week levels, versus VIP at a mid-single-digit recovery,” wrote the JP Morgan analyst, as cited in a report issued by GGRAsia. 

The October 1 to 7 National Day Holiday recorded some 182,284 visitor arrivals, exceeding the expectation of the local government.

The average entries were the highest since the city faced the largest outbreak in mid-June this year, which led to the halt in travel.

Both the tourism and the gaming sector are now eyeing the resumption of group package tours and e-visas for mainland travelers. 

The issuance of group package tours to Macau and eVisas under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) is shaping up to be a massive boost for the SAR’s gaming and tourism operators, which have been negatively affected since the pandemic began in early 2020.

With this move, J.P. Morgan expects that the pent-up demand for mass-market gaming remains “pretty solid” and would be better than their former forecast.

This time, the brokerage is betting that the mass-market gaming revenue will rise to 40% to 50% of pre-pandemic times in December.

However, the city will continue to face headwinds amid the current turmoil in the gaming sector, as mainland China and Macau continue to adhere to their zero-Covid policies. This means that a small number of cases may lead to lockdowns and travel restrictions.

Currently, some districts in Zhuhai are under lockdown due to new cases over the weekend.