Macau reportedly saw its aggregated gross gaming revenues drop off by almost 24% last week after neighboring Guangdong Province instituted a new series of coronavirus-related travel restrictions.

According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming, this is the opinion of Sanford C Bernstein Limited analysts Vitaly Umansky, Kelsey Zhu and Louis Li as the casino hotspot saw its average daily aggregated gross gaming revenues fall from about $27.4 million for the seven days from June 7 to approximately $20.9 million last week. The source detailed that this final figure represented an almost 51% diminution when compared with the around $42.1 million weekly median seen in May.

Sweeping slump:

The Sanford C Bernstein Limited analysts reportedly explained that month-to-date aggregated gross gaming revenues for Macau are now down by about 74% when compared with those seen in June of 2019 and some 39% lower than the roughly $513 million chalked up in May. The experts purportedly moreover disclosed that VIP volumes are said to have simultaneously declined by in the region of 40% month-on-month with associated daily mass-market receipts up to 35% poorer.

Visitation vicissitude:

Inside Asian Gaming reported that this degeneration is said to have come as tourism traffic in Macau for the seven days from June 11 tumbled by approximately 21% week-on-week to a mere 31,400 people, which equated to a month-on-month tumble of about 41%. The Sanford C Bernstein Limited analysts purportedly clarified that this wane coincided with the implementation of new rules that oblige travellers into the former Portuguese enclave from five mainland cities in Guangdong Province to quarantine for two weeks.

Poor prediction:

The Guangdong Province cities of Foshan and Guangzhou recently reportedly experienced a small outbreak of coronavirus and the fresh travel rules moreover require all mainland arrivals into Macau to provide a negative test that has been acquired within the previous 48 hours. Although Chinese authorities are now confident that they are on top of this recent outbreak, the Sanford C Bernstein Limited analysts purportedly also forecast that the enclave’s aggregated gross gaming revenues for June could now drop by up to 70% year-on-year to around $893 million, which would equate to a decline of about 40% when compared with May’s finishing tally.

Reluctant recovery:

Macau is home to around 40 casinos including the iconic Casino Grand Lisboa venue from SJM Holdings Limited and Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited’s $3.2 billion Studio City Macau development. The city was reportedly hit hard by the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic as its aggregated gross gaming revenues for the whole of 2020 finished down by almost 80% year-on-year at $7.5 billion although results subsequently began to improve in February courtesy of a 135.6% perennial boost to approximately $914.1 million.