Meagre early-October success for Macau casinos

The first eleven days of October reportedly saw the 39 casinos in Macau record average daily aggregated gross gaming revenues that were some 221% higher month-on-month at approximately $30 million.

According to a report from GGRAsia citing an official note from international brokerage Sanford C Bernstein Limited, this period had included the seven-day ‘Golden Week’ national holiday that usually sees large numbers of mainland tourists visiting the city in order to enjoy its plethora of entertainment and gambling facilities. But the source explained that the most recent figure also represented a decline of 72% year-on-year despite being considerably better than the $9.2 million mean chalked up for the whole of September.

Pandemic plummet:

Macau is home to some of the world’s most iconic casinos including the lotus-shaped Casino Grand Lisboa from local behemoth SJM Holdings Limited but has recently recorded six consecutive coronavirus-affected months in which its aggregated gross gaming revenues have fallen by at least 90% year-on-year. As a result and the enclave’s combined nine-month tally is currently down by 82.5% at just $4.8 billion with daily visitation numbers reportedly standing approximately 86% lower.

Continuing convalescence:

Sanford C Bernstein Limited reportedly used a Monday note to moreover pronounce that tourism volume is not necessarily an accurate indicator of gambling volumes in Macau as ‘fewer numbers of customers are necessary to drive gross gaming revenue growth.’ Nevertheless, the firm purportedly went on to state that the city’s average daily tally of visitors had ‘continued to climb’ to reach 17,020 for October 8, which was a boost of around 5,000 when compared with the start of August.

Health headache:

The brokerage reportedly furthermore declared that ‘simplification’ of the visa process for mainland and foreign Macau visitors is likely the ‘key’ to attracting more tourists into the former Portuguese enclave. The company purportedly proclaimed that it is ‘currently taking up to two weeks to process’ such authorizations owing to a policy that requires applicants to present a negative test for coronavirus.

Hong Kong check:

However, Sanford C Bernstein reportedly asserted that the requirement for those hoping to travel into Macau from nearby Hong Kong is even more strict as such visitors are being obliged to test negative for coronavirus within only one day of their planned departure before having to go into a two-week quarantine.

Reportedly read the filing from Sanford C Bernstein…

“We do not expect Hong Kong travel restrictions to be lifted in the near term, until Hong Kong cases are brought back down to an insignificant level and show stability, at which point Hong Kong would be added to the China/Macau travel bubble.”