Macau GGR dips following typhoon, Golden Week

Citigroup Inc. reported that Macau’s casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) decreased significantly in the second week of October as compared to the first eight days, citing data from industry sources. It is projected that the GGR for the first fifteen days of October will be around MOP 10 billion, or $1.24 billion.

The daily GGR run rate for the previous week was MOP 479 million, according to Citigroup’s analysts. This is a 42% decrease from the MOP 831 million per day in the first eight days of October.

Typhoon Koinu, which caused a disruption to incoming tourists to Macau by raising typhoon signal No. 8, is blamed for the slowness. As a result, public transportation was suspended from the afternoon of October 8 until the late morning of October 9. There were reports of very low business volumes on the day the typhoon alert was in effect.

After the National Day Golden Week holiday, which ended on October 6, there was also a seasonal slowdown. Citigroup expects visitation to progressively increase in the next weeks, particularly with famous Cantopop artist Eason Chan coming to town for two weekends in a row.

Citigroup maintained its October GGR projection at MOP 19.5 billion, or around 74% of the October 2019 level, despite the recent difficulties. For the remaining part of the month, the average daily GGR is predicted to be MOP 594 million.

Original story by: GGRAsia