Macau casinos' gross gaming revenue (GGR) tumbled 68.1 percent year on year to 2.67 billion patacas (US$331 million) last month, the steepest decline since November 2020, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) announced today.
In November 2020, GGR dropped 70.5 percent. Last month's 2.67 billion pataca GGR was the lowest since September 2020, which stood at 2.21 billion patacas.
February was so far this year's only month that recorded year-on-year GGR growth, at 6.1 percent.
Analysts have blamed the resurgence of the novel coronavirus in neighbouring regions, which resulted in the tightening of COVID-19 control and prevention measures by the local government, for last month's sharp GGR decrease.
GGR in the first four months of the year dropped 36.2 percent to 20.45 billion patacas.
At the end of the first quarter, Macau had 42 casinos, four of which, however, had their operations suspended, according to the latest available DICJ data.
Macau's six gaming operators comprise SJM (23 casinos), Galaxy (6), Venetian Macau (5), Melco Crown (4), MGM (2), and Wynn Resorts (2).
At the end of March, according to the gaming regulator, Macau's number of gaming tables and slot-machines stood at 6,025 and 11,615 respectively.
At the end of 2019, Macau had 6,739 gaming tables and 17,009 slot machines, according to DICJ data. Macau confirmed its first COVID-19 case in January 2020.
The six operators pay 35 percent of their GGR as direct gaming tax to the government, apart from another five percent as so-called "contributions" (dues) for a range of public causes such as culture, education and social welfare.
