Macau’s casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the first eight days of September is estimated at MOP4.75 billion (US$591.4 million), a daily run rate of about MOP594 million, said Citigroup in a Monday memo, citing industry sources.
“Although Typhoon Yagi caused some disruptions from Thursday [September 5] to Friday last week, the impact was much less versus Typhoon Saola, a direct-hit typhoon that led to temporary casino closures over the first weekend of September last year,” said the banking institution.
Typhoon Yagi saw air, sea and land transport serving Macau – as well as some non-gaming services at casino resorts – temporarily suspended, coinciding with a typhoon signal No. 8 being hoisted in the city at 10pm on September 5, and being in place until 2pm the next day.
Macau’s daily run-rate of casino GGR in the first eight days of this month was tracking about 6 percent lower than the last 13 days of August, which stood at about MOP635 million, Citi analyst George Choi noted in the memo.
“Based on industry sources, VIP volumes were down 7 to 10-percent month-on-month and mass volumes were down 5 to 8-percent month-on-month,” the Monday memo mentioned.
Citigroup said it had trimmed its estimate for Macau’s September casino GGR from the previous MOP18.5 billion, to MOP18.25 billion. The latter tally, if realised, would represent a year-on-year growth of 22 percent, and would also be equivalent to about 83 percent of the same month in 2019.
The latest adjusted forecast for Macau’s casino GGR of this month was to reflect “the minor negative impact” from Typhoon Yagi, the banking institution noted.
