Macau April gambling revenue forecast to dry up

Gambling revenue in Macau is forecast to plunge by 95 percent year-on-year in April.

According to Sanford C. Bernstein analysts, the city recorded some 850 million patacas (HK$825.24 million) of gaming revenue in the first 13 days of April, with a month-to-date average daily rate of 66 million patacas, the Macau Daily Times reports.

Last April, the gross gambling revenue was about 23.6 billion patacas.
“Month-to-date average daily rate is down 92 percent compared to April 2019,” said analysts Vitaly Umansky, Eunice Lee and Kelsey Zhu, as cited in a note seen by GGRAsia.
“We estimate VIP has been stronger than mass, with revenue driven by a very small number of players, with lower than normal hold in VIP and significant volatility,” the brokerage says.
For the eight-day period ending April 13, the daily average was estimated to be just 44 million patacas.
According to Sanford Bernstein analysts, gambling operators and other Macau-based contacts to which it had spoken “do not see any clarity on the timing of recovery [for improvement of the visa situation].”
“We expect [gross gambling revenue] to pick up again in May/June with loosening travel restrictions, but any strong near-term recovery is unlikely,” said the team.-Photo: Macau Daily Times