Macau casinos' gross gaming revenue rose 228.8 percent from 2.21 billion patacas in September to 7.27 billion patacas (US$910.9 million) last month, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) announced today.
According to DICJ data, last month's gross gaming revenue was the highest since January, when Macau's over three dozen casinos raked in 22.12 billion patacas.
Macau's first COVID-19 case was confirmed on January 22.
Year-on-year, last month's gross gaming revenue declined by 72.5 percent - the lowest year-on-year drop since January.
In the first 10 months of the year, the casino sector's gross gaming revenue fell by 81.4 percent to 45.87 billion patacas.
Analysts have attributed last month's strong increase to the central government's decision to reactivate as of September 23 its individual visit scheme (IVS) allowing mainland tourists to travel to Macau again. The scheme had been suspended early this year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the DICJ website, Macau had 41 casinos owned by six rival gaming operators (SJM, Galaxy, Venetian, Wynn, MGM and Melco Crown) at the end of September. Four SJM casinos' operations were suspended at that time.
According to Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) data, the gaming industry had 57,459 full-time employees at the end of June, or 14.1 percent of Macau's total workforce of 406,500 at that time. Gaming sector employees' earnings averaged 23,200 patacas (US$2,900) in June, the bureau said.
