Macao’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) fell 94.5 per cent year-on-year to MOP 1.33 billion (US$167 million) in August, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) announced today.
Month-to-month, casino receipts were down 1.04 per cent.
In the first eight months of the year, the sector’s revenues generated by games of chance fell 81.6 per cent year-on-year to MOP 36.39 billion.
August recorded the industry’s third-lowest takings this year, after April (MOP 754 million) and June (MOP 716 million).
Macao’s gross gaming revenue began to decline drastically in February. The first COVID-19 case was recorded in the special administrative region on 22 January. A total of 46 cases have been recorded since then, none of them fatal. All the patients have been cured and discharged from hospital. Unlike Hong Kong, Macao has not recorded a community outbreak of the contagious disease.
Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Macao has imposed strict entry curbs and quarantine regulations since early this year. However, the entry curbs on mainland Chinese visitors have been gradually relaxed since last month and are slated to be further eased late this month.
Foreign nationals without a residency permit in Macao have been barred from entering Macao since early this year. Due to Macao’s strict adherence to the “One China” policy, there have been special entry regulations for compatriots from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Macao’s six gaming operators (three concessionaires and three sub-concessionaires) own 41 casinos.
At the end of June, the gaming sector had 57,459 full-time employees, including 25,344 dealers (croupiers), according to the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC). The sector employed about 14 per cent of Macao’s total workforce of 406,500 in the May-July employment sector survey period, DSEC data shows.
(The Macau Post Daily/Macau News)
PHOTO © Xinhua News Agency
