While Las Vegas is often considered the gambling capital of the world, Macau's betting and gaming industry is no less impressive, bringing in huge profits every year.
However, like many gambling sectors around the world, the Macau market has been hit hard by the financial pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as some recently announced regulatory changes.
Overall, all six of Macau's major casino resorts reported a decline in massive table winnings - likely due to a lack of customers due to COVID-19 - with Sands recording the largest drop at 68%, followed by Sim at 67%, Galaxy and Macau - 61%, Melco - 59% and Wynn - 49%.
To put these numbers into perspective, Melco posted a $340 million gain on the mass table in the first quarter of 2021, compared to $700 million in the first quarter of 2021.
However, this is still an improvement in Q1 2020 and Q4 2020 figures of $310 million and $322 million, suggesting the pandemic is recovering.
In addition, four out of six casinos reported revenue growth in the fourth quarter of last year, with Sim leading at 9%, followed by Melco at 5%, Galaxy and Macao at 1% each, while Wynn and MGM posted losses of 7% and 5% respectively.
Moving on to look at various metrics, the decline in slot winnings once again points to a lack of customers as a key factor, with Melco slot winnings falling from $92 million in Q1 2019 to $44 million in Q1 2021, while while Sands saw slot machine winnings dwindle to $40 million from $154 million.
The number of VIP wins also showed a significant decline, from a decline of 73% for Sands - the lowest of the six figures - to 88% for Sim, which represents the highest number.
While the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns and restrictions have played a key role in this, many in the gaming industry in Macau have raised concerns about the increased use of digital currency by the central government in Beijing, which many fear the city's traditional picnic system may cause. outdated.
Source - Inside Asian Gaming YouTube channel
The report of a decrease in revenue in the 1st quarter of 2021 from the Macau gambling industry first appeared on GamblingTV.com.