Macau casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) for July was the lowest monthly tally since currently-published records by the city’s authorities, dating back to 2003.
The July aggregate of MOP398 million (US$49.2 million) reflects the sort of monthly level not seen since the turn of the century, when the entire market consisted of 11 casinos licensed to the former monopoly interest run by Sociedade de Jogos de Macau SA, and before the effects of liberalisation had seen competition added.
Macau casino floors were only running for 19 out of the 31 days this July. A shutdown from July 11 to July 22 inclusive was a part of countermeasures for a Covid-19 local outbreak.
June GGR had already been hurt by the outbreak, which began on June 18, and coincided with tightened travel restrictions from and into mainland China, Macau’s key source market for tourists.
July GGR was down 83.9 percent month-on-month on the nearly MOP2.48 billion recorded in June, which had itself been a low not seen since September 2020, at an earlier stage of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Judged year-on-year, July 2022 GGR was down 95.3 percent.
In the seven months to July 31 this year, cumulative GGR was MOP26.67 billion, down by 53.6 percent in year-on-year terms.
In the whole of 2003, Macau annual GGR was MOP28.67 billion, according to records kept by the city’s Statistics and Census Service.
Most Macau casinos reopened on July 23, with limited operations and with business volumes seen depressed, as travel restrictions constrained the number of visitors from mainland China.
Macau had recorded 1,821 cases in the latest community outbreak as of midnight on Sunday. There had been no new cases at all in the 72 hours up to that point.
