Macau's 37 casinos run by six operators recorded gross gaming revenue (GGR) of 2.99 billion patacas (US$376 million) last month, a year-on-year decline of 55.6 percent, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) reported today.
Month-on-month, GGR was down by 23.1 percent.
Between January and November, the gaming industry's GGR dropped 50.9 percent to 38.7 billion patacas.
Macau's gaming industry has been hard hit by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Macau confirmed its first novel coronavirus case in January 2020.
At the end of June, according to the latest available official data, the gaming industry had 53,592 full-time employees, accounting for 11.4 percent of Macau's labour force.
The sector's direct gaming taxes reached 29.5 billion patacas in the first 10 months of the year, accounting for 69.0 percent of the government's current revenue during that period, according to official statistics.
The government announced last week that it has decided to grant new concessions to the six incumbent operators. The 10-year concession period is slated to start on January 1, 2023.
Macau's traditional system of concessions for its gaming operators and public utilities gives the government much more leeway over their operations than conventional business licences.
Baccarat is local casinos' most popular game of chance. The card game generated 85.8 percent of the sector's GGR in the first three quarters, according to DICJ statistics.
Meanwhile, according to data from the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC), Macau recorded 4.9 million visitor arrivals in the first 10 months, a year-on-year decrease of 18.7 percent. Some 4.2 million guests checked into Macau's 118 hotels between January and October, a year-on-year decrease of 22.5 percent, comprising both visitors and staycationers.
