GGRAsia – Singapore casino revenue 75pct of 2019 in 2022: Fitch

Singapore casino revenue 75pct of 2019 in 2022: Fitch

Nov 24, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Singapore, Top of the deck

Singapore casino revenue is likely to recover in 2022 to about 75 percent of 2019 levels, compared to the circa 50 percent recovery relative to pre-pandemic levels seen this year, says a Tuesday report from Fitch Ratings Inc.

Singapore has a casino duopoly shared between Marina Bay Sands, run by a unit of United States-based Las Vegas Sands Corp, and Resorts World Sentosa, run by Genting Singapore Ltd.

According to respective filings of the two Singapore operators, their combined 2019 gaming revenue for that market was circa US$3.35 billion at current exchange rates. Resorts World Sentosa, reporting in local currency, generated just under SGD1.62 billion (nearly US$1.19 billion) gaming revenue in full-year 2019, and Marina Bay Sands, just under US$2.17 billion.

Fitch Ratings’ latest overview, titled “2022 Outlook: Global Gaming”, also said that Malaysia’s casino sector would rebound in 2022 to 65 percent of pre-crisis revenue levels, likely thanks to “resilient domestic demand”. That compared to the 25 percent year-on-year recovery expected this year, added the institution.

Malaysia’s casino sector is a monopoly via the Resorts World Genting casino complex, run by Genting Malaysia Bhd near the country’s capital Kuala Lumpur.

Genting Malaysia had reported “leisure and hospitality” revenue from the Genting Highlands resort – including from gaming – amounting to just under MYR7.07 billion (nearly US$1.68 billion) for full-year 2019.

Fitch said that “the transition to living with the coronavirus and Fitch’s expectation that the progressive relaxation of movement and border restrictions will continue into 2022,” are also “key factors” in its “recovery expectations in Singapore and Malaysia”.

Singapore’s Ministry of Health said that as of Monday, 85 percent of its total population of 5.45 million, and 94 percent of its population “eligible” to receive such vaccine, had completed the two-jab course deemed necessary to offer protection against serious illness in the event of Covid-19 infection.

From November 29, Singapore is adding Indonesia – a key tourist market for the city-state – to its list of countries whose nationals will be offered quarantine-free air travel to the city-state provided they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and test ‘negative’ for the disease before departure and after arrival.

Malaysia’s Ministry of Health said that as of Tuesday, 76.6 percent of the country’s 32.67 million population, had received two shots of Covid-19 vaccine. Malaysia aims to reopen its borders to international visitors no later than January 1.