Macau's gross gaming revenue (GGR) fell by 20.9 percent year-on-year to 6.34 billion patacas (US$793 million) last month, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) has announced this afternoon.
Month-on-month, GGR was down by 20.3 percent in January.
In December, GGR rose by 1.8 percent year-on-year to 7.96 billion patacas.
Last month produced the gaming industry's lowest GGR since last October.
Due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in the adjacent mainland city of Zhuhai, Macau last month tightened its border health inspection measures resulting in a decline in visitor arrivals. The measures have recently been relaxed.
Macau has 42 casinos owned by six rival operators (23 owned by SJM, six by Galaxy, five by Venetian, four by Melco Crown, and two each by Wynn and MGM), according to DICJ data.
At the end of last year (the latest available data from the bureau) the gaming industry operated 6,198 gaming tables and 11,658 slot machines.
Macau's gaming industry has been affected since early 2020 by the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Foreign nationals without the right of abode in Macau have been barred from entering Macau since March 2020, while compatriots from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan have been allowed to enter but are subject to a raft of COVID-19 control measures such as nucleic acid tests before arrival here or, in certain cases, mandatory quarantine in Macau after arrival.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign nationals only accounted for some 10 percent of all visitor arrivals in Macau.
