Macau casino revenue hits another new low in June

Macau’s gaming revenue sunk to yet another new low of MOP716m (£72.2m/€79.8m/$89.7m) in June, down 97.0% year-on-year, as the effects of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic continues to devastate the territory’s largest industry.

June saw the lowest revenue figure and largest year-on-year decline yet in a year of historic lows, lower than April’s MOP754m and undoing the slight recovery seen in May, when revenue increased to MOP1.76bn.

It also marked the third consecutive month in which gambling revenue has fallen by more than 90% year-on-year. Measures requiring visitors to Macau to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival and upon return from the territory have played a major role in the especially low revenue recorded in each of the past three months.

The new figures mean Macau’s gambling revenue for the first half of 2020 came to MOP33.72bn, down 77.4% year-on-year. Of this total, almost two thirds (MOP22.13bn) was recorded in January alone, despite January’s revenue still amounting to an 11.3% year-on-year decline.

In April, Macau’s head of government, chief executive Ho Iat Seng warned of the effects of the country’s “excessive dependence” upon the gambling industry and said it led to the island being particularly badly affected by the pandemic.

Earlier this week (29 June), the University of Macau's Centre for Macau Studies and the Department of Economics revised their projections for Macau's 2020 GDP down further. The new projections predict a drop of between 54.5% and 60.0%.