Operator News
China – Casinos reopening won’t be enough to save Macau’s first quarter
By Phil - 18 February 2020
Analysts at Sanford Bernstein don’t believe the reopening of Macau’s casinos following the spread of the Coronavirus will be enough to save first quarter revenues from plummeting to year-on-year declines of up to 60 per cent.
Bernstein’s Vitaly Umansky, Eunice Lee and Kelsey Zhu warned: “Even with the casinos reopening, there will still be a dearth of customers. The suspension of group travel and IVS visa issuance eliminates the largest source of customers. Until the suspensions are lifted, most mainland Chinese customers will not be able to enter Macau. There is no clarity at this time from China when such travel may begin to be permitted. Visitation is only a mere trickle out of mainland China.”
“Q1 is obviously going to show awful results,” they added. “Assuming a two-week shutdown followed by some soft business resuming in late February and March, Q1 could show a GGR year-on-year decline of 50 per cent. Continued softness through the rest of Q1 (if visa issuance is not resumed) could lead to GGR decline of more than 60 per cent. The result will largely be dependent on resumption of the issuance of visas and transport connectivity.”
