Galaxy Entertainment Group Chairman Lui Che Woo has expressed his desire to see border restrictions between Macau and Guangdong Province eased within a month as losses for the Macau resort operator and its peers continue to mount.
While Galaxy is considered to be the healthiest of all six Macau gaming concessionaires when it comes to available liquidity, the company revealed that daily expenditure during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen visitation into Macau slow to a near standstill due to mandatory quarantine measures imposed upon anyone crossing back into Guangdong Province, had reached US$2.8 million.
“The suspension of casinos surely impacted our business greatly,” Lui told Hong Kong media following GEG’s annual general meeting for shareholders.
“It is hard to calculate our loss during the pandemic, but we must follow and respect the government policies in preventing the spread.”
Lui admitted that Galaxy had previously expected border restrictions to be significantly eased on 7 June before an outbreak in Hong Kong forced a delay to implementation of an anticipated “travel bubble” between the three jurisdictions, including Macau and Guangdong. In the meantime, said Lui’s son and Galaxy Vice Chairman Francis Lui, the group was prepared for borders to open in the near future and was doing its best to control costs. Construction work on Galaxy Macau Phases 3 and 4 is continuing, he added.
Asked whether the Macau government should consider extending the gaming licenses of Macau’s concessionaires, all of which are due to expire in June 2022, due to the impact of COVID, the elder Lui replied, “I believe the Macau government understands the current situation in Macau and will deal with it fairly.”
On the topic of the controversial new National Security Law proposed for Hong Kong by mainland China, Lui – who is also Chairman of Hong Kong property development giant K. Wah International Holdings Ltd – said he hoped it would not harm the city’s stable economy.
“Hong Kong is a city of economic prosperity and politics is a concern for very, very few people. General people just want to sustain their lives,” he said.
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