GGRAsia – Macau daily GGR up 9pct w-o-w as visitor numbers up: analyst

Macau daily GGR up 9pct w-o-w as visitor numbers up: analyst

Aug 22, 2022 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Macau’s average daily casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the week to August 21 stood at MOP86 million (US$10.6 million), up 9 percent from the MOP79 million per day in the preceding week, estimated brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd in a Monday note, citing its own channel checks.

The brokerage stated that GGR performance in Macau during the period from August 15 to August 21 had been “helped by continuous improvement” in the number of visitors to the city since the easing of restrictions on inbound and outbound travel earlier in August, after the local authorities were able to bring under control a local Covid-19 outbreak which was first recorded on June 18.

“But the recovery is still slow as constrained by various travel restrictions in China, and players remaining cautious on travel, in fear of government suddenly imposing [a] lockdown order,” wrote Sanford Bernstein analysts Vitaly Umansky, Louis Li, and Shirley Yang.

They added: “Although Macau has recorded zero Covid cases since July 30, and has seen some visitation improvement this month, the pace of GGR recovery in August and September is still uncertain and largely dependent on whether China can quickly contain the regional Covid outbreaks.”

Channel checks indicate that Macau’s GGR in the first 21 days of August was MOP1.4 billion, with an average daily rate of MOP67 million, down 53 percent year-on-year, but up 419 percent month-on-month from July.

Macau casino GGR for July – which stood at MOP398 million – was the lowest monthly tally since currently-published records by the city’s authorities, dating back to 2003. Macau casino floors were only running for 19 out of the 31 days of the month. A shutdown from July 11 to July 22 inclusive, was a part of countermeasures for a Covid-19 local outbreak.

Macau’s tally of visitors reached 81,798 for the seven days from August 12 to August 18 inclusive – a daily average of about 11,685 – said the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) in a Monday update. It represented an increase of circa 56 percent from the preceding seven days, according to the tourism bureau.