Macau’s annual Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia exhibition has been postponed once again due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this time to December 1-3.
The G2E organisers – the American Gaming Association (AGA) and Reed Exhibitions – announced the second postponement in a statement last week.
“Based on our continued monitoring of the global health crisis, and in consultation with our customers and the Macau government, we have made the difficult decision to postpone G2E Asia to December,” the statement said.
This year’s G2E Asia at the Venetian in Cotai had initially been slated for May 19-21. However, as the novel coronavirus continued to spread first regionally and then globally, the event was earlier this year rescheduled for July 28-30.
“Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and continued travel and commercial restrictions, it is not possible to hold G2E Asia as originally [i.e. after the first postponement] planned.
“G2E Asia, and its organisers the American Gaming Association and Reed Exhibitions, are grateful for your continued support and apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause,” Friday’s statement said.
“We look forward to continuing to support Macau’s resilient gaming industry and its recovery when we reconvene in December,” the statement added in a markedly optimistic tone.
According to Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) data, local casinos’ gross gaming revenue (GGR) fell 79.7 percent year-on-year to 5.25 billion patacas (US$657 million) in March. GGR in the first quarter dropped 60.0 percent year-on-year to 30.48 billion patacas.
Macau had 41 casinos at the end of March, four of which had their operations suspended, according to the DICJ website. Macau’s casinos were closed by government order for 15 days in February as a part of the government’s raft of measures to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
