Casino revenues to go down to near-zero in next weeks, operators’ liquidity woes to worsen – Brokerages

The local casino revenue tally will likely go down to near-zero again after the largest community outbreak since the pandemic started, gaming analysts stated.

About 34 confirmed Covid-19 cases have been discovered so far with a mass testing drive already underway and tightened restrictions for movements between mainland China and the SAR.

The border remains open but travellers leaving Macau must present a negative test result issued within 24 hours, leading to another tumble in visitor numbers and pushing gross gaming revenue levels to near-zero levels for a few weeks until the situation is brought under control, dispatches by Sandford C. Bernstein and JP Morgan indicate.

Additionally, Zhuhai has announced that anyone crossing into Macau needed a negative COVID test within 48 hours prior to crossing the border.

‘While Macau’s Secretary of Finance has said that the casinos will not be shut down, visitation into the city will be severely limited (perhaps being almost completely blocked) and revenues are set to plummet close to zero for at least the next week, and quite likely several weeks – GGR will be severely impacted in both June and July,’ Bernstein analysts say in a dispatch.

May gambling revenues dropped 68 per cent year-on-year to MOP3.3 billion (US$400 million), and – while up 25 per cent from April – remain far off the MOP26 billion hit in May 2019.

In a note issued recently, JP Morgan provided a table in which it estimates the ‘liquidity runaway’ for local gaming concessionaires in the worst-case scenario.

Source: https://www.macaubusiness.com/casino-revenues-to-go-down-to-near-zero-in-next-weeks-operators-liquidity-woes-to-worsen-brokerages/