Macau Revenues Crashed 90% In February 2020

The Coronavirus outbreak which hit the world like a tidal wave just as the Chinese New Year was set to commence may have struck a death blow to the Macau gambling sector. In a move that we all agree was the right thing to do given the severity of the disease, one which has claimed upward of 2900 souls to date, casinos in Macau shut their doors to visitors and staff alike for nearly two weeks.

While the casino floors have reopened the ongoing local and international travel restrictions, general fears over group meeting areas and, in many cases, loss of income have not seen a return to business as usual for the struggling casinos.

 Crushing Blow

The swift shutdown the Macau casinos lasted just over 2 weeks and have seen the revenues for the already concerned region plummet by nearly 90% for February 2020. Coming off a slow but steady financial decline through the latter half of 2019 this as the worst possible timing for the beleaguered market.

Doing a February year-on-year financial review shows that the region saw its revenues (not profits) drop to a mere $386 million. For what is essentially the Asian equivalent of Las Vegas this revenue figure is the accumulated valuation from nearly 40 casinos.

 Macau’s Bleak 2020

JP Morgan has done a projection based for the remainder of the 2020 and it is not a healthy projection for Macau. Heading March is expected to see a year-on-year revenue decline of approximately 70% with an overall slide of 35% for the 2nd quarter of the year. Even with moderate gains towards the end of 2020 the year is projected down by a massive 30%.

The one wildcard in this debate is the infection rate and manageability of COVID-19. With no idea how to kill the virus, only how to curb its spread, there is a long road ahead for the world, not just Macau.

We can only hope that medical science and mankind’s resilience in the face of danger will see a good report for us all, sooner rather than later.