Macau Gaming Revenue Falls 80% In MarchSpread Of COVID-19 Continues To Hurt Macau Casinos, Government Cuts Projected Revenue In Half |
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The world’s largest gambling hub experienced another massive drop in revenue thanks to the pandemic sparked from the spread of coronavirus.
Macau’s gross gaming revenue was down just shy of 80 percent in March, according to numbers released by the Gaming Inspection & Coordination Bureau. Casinos won $658.7 million from gamblers in March as the former Portuguese colony experienced its sixth straight month of year-over-year decline.
Strict border restrictions coupled with quarantine measures to help curb the spread of the virus continued to hurt the region’s casinos. There were very few flights coming in and out with most visitors entering by land through the border with the Guangdong province.
March’s decline comes after February’s record-setting 88 percent drop in revenue when the region shut down the casinos for two weeks during the peak of the outbreak.
According to Bloomberg, analysts correctly predicted the revenue decrease as they forecasted a 79.5 percent decline in March.
With the outbreak continuing to spread worldwide, Macau’s government slashed the forecast of the 2020 gaming revenue in half. The government now only expects casinos to generate $16.2 billion in 2020. In 2019, yearly revenue was $36.47 billion, which was already down 4.8 percent from 2018.
Leading up to the spread of COVID-19, Macau was plagued by a two-year-long trade war with the U.S. and escalating protests in Hong Kong, which curtailed tourism.
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