Promising end to the year for Macau

Despite suffering through a range of coronavirus-related restrictions and the 41 casinos in Macau reportedly still managed to finish 2021 with aggregated annual gross gaming revenues of slightly over $10.81 billion.

According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming citing official information from the local Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau regulator, the twelve-month tally represented a rise of 43.7% year-on-year but was still some 70.3% lower than the $36.41 billion chalked up for the whole of 2019. The source detailed that this latter figure was itself a 3.4% decline on the record-setting $37.71 billion amassed for the entirety of 2018 before the sector was struck by the sudden appearance of the coronavirus pandemic.

Closing comeback:

Macau is home to some of the world’s largest and most prestigious casinos including the iconic Casino Grand Lisboa venue from SJM Holdings Limited as well as Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited’s 1,600-room Studio City Macau development. Inside Asian Gaming reported that Macau’s aggregated annual gross gaming revenues for 2021 were significantly helped by a December in which combined receipts swelled by 1.8% year-on-year and 18% month-on-month to hit almost $991.50 million.

Sightseeing surge:

The December performance of the many casinos in Macau was reportedly moreover aided by a considerable swell in the number of mainland Chinese tourists visiting the former Portuguese enclave following the earlier lifting of a number of coronavirus-related travel restrictions. The Public Security Police Force of Macau purportedly noted that well in excess of 95,000 holidaymakers had crossed over into the city during the three days to Boxing Day including 40,284 on Christmas Eve alone, which was the third highest daily tally of the year and the first time since May that this figure had exceeded 40,000.

Rapid rejuvenation:

For its part and GGRAsia used its own report to explain that Macau’s fourth-quarter aggregated gross gaming revenues of about $2.73 billion had represented a decrease of 12.6% year-on-year as the aforementioned travel restrictions had only begun being lifted towards the end of October. Nevertheless, this period featured a November in which the monthly tally had sequentially improved by 54.6% to $840.39 million, which was additionally 0.01% higher than the figure for the same month in 2020.

Spring summit:

May was reportedly the best month of 2021 for casinos in Macau as aggregated gross gaming revenues reportedly increased by 492.2% year-on-year to reach $1.3 billion although this had been preceded by an April in which the combined tally rocketed 1,014.4% to hit $1.04 billion. The year purportedly also saw figures of $999.13 million, $910.47 million and $1.03 billion for January, February and March respectively with October’s $543.52 million representing the twelve-month period’s nadir.