Macau’s casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) fell by 27.1 percent month-on-month in April, a new low for this year, even relative to September 2020’s poor performance near the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data released on Sunday by the local regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, a body also known as DICJ.
April GGR was nearly MOP2.68 billion (US$331.2 million), versus just above MOP3.67 billion achieved in March. The March GGR tally had been the lowest since September 2020, near the start of the Covid-19 pandemic alert.
Casino GGR in April fell by 68.1 percent from the prior-year period, when it had been MOP8.40 billion.
Macau casino GGR in the first four months of 2022 stood at MOP20.45 billion, down 36.2 percent from a year ago.
Investment analysts had forecast sluggish performance in GGR for April, given mainland China Covid-19 cases and a tightening of travel restrictions with Macau.
Brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd said in a recent note that the number of visitor arrivals to Macau and casino revenue remained “largely subdued due to [mainland] China Covid-19 outbreaks and restrictive travel and border control”.
