Gaming analysts focused on the world’s richest gaming market believe mass play — aka the general public — has returned to nearly 50 percent of pre-COVID levels. Travel restrictions have been slowly easing across mainland China, as well as in its two Special Administrative Regions (SARs) — Macau and Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
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Mainlanders, Hongkongers, and Taiwanese can presently enter Macau so long as they have not traveled internationally within the past three weeks. Hongkongers and Taiwanese travelers must present a negative COVID-19 test conducted within the past 24 hours. People arriving in Macau from the Guangdong Province can present negative tests collected within the past 48 hours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The entry easing — most critically being the doing away of mandatory quarantines and medical observations — has allowed a substantial component of the mass market to return. But the “zero COVID” understanding lingers.<\/p>\n
“The question is how sustainable this level of demand will be in coming months, given seemingly rising COVID-19 cases in the mainland, especially in Guangdong — which accounts for the majority of Macau’s visitors,”<\/strong> explained JPMorgan Asia Pacific analysts DS Kim, Amanda Cheng, and Livy Lyu.<\/p>\nVIPs Stay Away<\/b><\/h2>\n
China’s assault on VIP junket groups that facilitate travel for the mainland’s wealthiest gamblers has resulted in the industry segment essentially disappearing.<\/p>\n
Macau analysts say VIP volume in February was just 5% of its pre-COVID levels. Of that estimated 5%, the JPMorgan team says nearly all of those players were “direct VIP” customers. Direct VIP refers to gamblers who work directly with the casinos of their own accords.<\/p>\n
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February can be one of the busier times in Macau, as the Chinese New Year is often celebrated during the month. The annual public holiday typically gives Chinese people a week off to travel and vacation across the mainland. Many China residents opt to venture to Macau.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Macau tourism officials counted a record 1.2 million entries during the Chinese New Year in 2019 that ran from February 4 through February 10. For the seven days of the holiday in February of 2022, the total visitor count was only 113,700 people. However, that mark is a 25.4% recovery on the Chinese New Year in 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Macau casinos generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) of MOP7.76 billion (US$963.8 million) in February of 2022. Last month was a strong performance for the casino hub that remains under China’s “zero COVID” policy. The draconian response to even the smallest of new COVID-19 detections has greatly limited Macau’s ability to recover from the pandemic times. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":203215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,81881],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Macau Casinos Post Positive February Revenue, Win Totals $964M<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n