The city’s casinos saw gross gaming revenue (GGR) surge in January as China’s reopening and the week-long Lunar New Year break sparked an influx of visitors to the gambling hub, fueling optimism the enclave is finally shaking off its zero-Covid doldrums.
The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) said today (Wednesday) that GGR climbed 82.5% last month year-on-year to MOP11.6 billion ($1.4 billion), beating the median estimate of a 36.5% increase, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. That’s the first rise since February last year and the highest monthly revenue since January 2020.
The recovery follows 10 consecutive months of double-digit declines as zero-Covid policies and a crackdown on cross-border gambling kept casinos mostly empty for much of 2022.
Last year’s annual takings were the lowest since 2004 and the city — which in 2019 reported GGR that was six times that of Las Vegas — lost its title of world’s top gambling hub.
MDT/Agencies
(Developing story)
