Second-quarter employee redundancies for Macau junket firms

In Macau and the number of people employed by the enclave’s many casino junket operators reportedly dropped by around 5,200 during the three months to the end of June to approximately 82,300.

According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming citing official information from the city’s Statistics and Census Service, the just over 9% quarterly decline comes as the 39 casinos in Macau are continuing to struggle against the impact of ongoing coronavirus-related travel restrictions that have caused visitation levels from neighboring Hong Kong and mainland China to plummet to near-record lows.

Revenues reversal:

Macau saw its aggregated gross gaming revenues for June decline by almost 97% year-on-year to stand at just over $89.69 million as the six-month figure came in some 77.4% lower at only $4.22 billion. The source detailed that this result had followed an associated 93.2% diminution for May as well as April’s worrying 96.8% reduction.

Idle increase:

Although the local government had earlier warned casino firms and junket operators against instituting redundancies due to the pandemic, the ranks of the enclave’s unemployed reportedly grew by around 400 people during the second quarter to hit roughly 10,100 with a large proportion of these having previously been engaged by such gambling enterprises or restaurants. To make matters worse and the source explained that the same three-month period saw the number of underemployed people in Macau rise by about 0.6% quarter-on-quarter to 13,900 with junket and gaming activities again being amongst the most represented industries.

Prominent players:

Additionally, Macau Golden Group recently shuttered a trio of VIP gaming lounges it runs within the iconic Hotel Lisboa while ‘a top-five’ compatriot is said to have re-hired some 200 laid-off staff members after receiving an official warning letter from the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.