Macau 2022 GGR at 40pct 2019 level at best: S&P Global

February 10, 2022 Macau Earnings & Filings

Macau casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) for 2022 is likely only to be “30 percent to 40 percent” of the 2019 levels seen before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, said analysts at Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings in a Monday note. Rising cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and a “tightening of junket activities will likely result in a slower recovery for the gaming sector in Macau,” stated the institution.

In November, the ratings agency said it expected aggregate casino GGR in the Macau market to be between “60 percent to 70 percent” of 2019 levels.

But in Monday’s memo, S&P Global said the Macau gaming market would “recover more gradually than we previously assumed amid rising Omicron cases and tightening junket activities.”

S&P Global assumes mass-market GGR in Macau should improve to “45 percent to 55 percent of pre-pandemic levels”. “The mass market may still recover to near pre-pandemic levels in 2023, assuming travel restrictions ease gradually throughout 2022,” it noted.

But GGR in the VIP segment will stay at 20 percent of 2019 levels during the next two years. “Visibility on the segment’s recovery is low because it is difficult to gauge how much revenue business junkets could bring to Macau under a stricter regulatory environment,” it stated.