Macau casinos revenue jumps 82.5% y/y in January after visitor surge (updated)

Sands China

01/02/2023 05:20

(Adds details throughout)
       HONG KONG, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Macau posted an 82.5%
year-on-year rise in gambling revenue to 11.6 billion patacas
($1.4 billion) in January, after the world's biggest gambling
hub had nearly half a million visitor arrivals over the
week-long Lunar New Year holiday. 
    The crowds were the biggest in more than three years, but
January's revenue was still less than half of the Lunar New Year
period in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, according to data
released by Macau's government on Wednesday.
    A special administrative region of China, Macau has seen a
resurgence of tourists from the mainland since Jan. 8 after the
territory dropped all COVID-19 testing requirements for inbound
travellers from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. 
        
    Tens of thousands of tourists streamed daily into Macau's
casinos and picturesque cobbled streets over the Lunar New Year
holiday from Jan. 21, a stark contrast to the dearth of visitors
into the former Portuguese colony since 2020.
        Macau is the only place in the country where gambling in
casinos is legal. It had closely followed China's zero-COVID
strategy since 2019 and re-opened alongside the mainland.
        January's revenues were the first for Sands China
 1928.HK , Wynn Macau  1128.HK , MGM China  2282.HK , Galaxy
Entertainment  0027.HK , MGM China  2282.HK  and SJM Holdings
 0880.HK  under new 10-year contracts.
        The casinos had launched under 20-year contracts in
2002, raking in billions of dollars and turning a sleepy fishing
village into a glitzy boomtown.
    The new contracts, with more government oversight and
control, were struck after COVID-19 restrictions decimated
Macau's gambling revenues and sent net debt soaring. The
industry had its worst revenue performance on record in 2022.
        The city's once lucrative VIP industry has also
collapsed following several arrests in Macau's junket industry.
A Macau court on Jan. 18 sentenced Alvin Chau, one of the city's
most well-known figures, to 18 years in prison.
 (Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Christopher Cushing and
Jamie Freed)
 ((farah.master@thomsonreuters.com; +852 3462 7709;))