Published: 03.02.2020, 18:45
2 min read
As a consequence of the coronavirus, the casino revenue in Macau has decreased by a total of $2.76 billion or 11.3% in January. Macau is considering shutting down all of their casinos in order to prevent the virus from spreading since casinos are locations where a lot of people come in contact.
The revenue decrease of $2.76 billion in January 2020 is much worse than what was predicted by the experts at the start of the month when the coronavirus started to spread through China. Still, the decrease is lower than the predicted decrease made in the last week of January when the restriction of China’s mainland visitors took place.
Nomura, a Japanese brokerage, implied that in January and February, the daily GGR should improve when compared to 2019’s results.
Casinos to be closed
Macau is contemplating the idea to close all of their land-based casinos until the virus is controlled by the government. Ho Iat Seng, the Chief Executive implies the need for a proper plan in tackling the virus and the casinos’ closings as one potential step. According to Ho: “When Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome hit Macau 17 years ago, we were lucky enough to record only one imported case. But now, viral pneumonia coincides with the peak domestic travel season for Chinese New Year across China. Such a huge passenger traffic means the disease could be spread to each of the Chinese provinces.”
So far, Macau’s casinos have only been closed during the Mangkhut Typhoon in September 2018.
