The Macau SAR government says it expects daily gross gaming revenues (GGR) to reach around MOP$350 million (US$44 million) in 2021, pushing annual GGR back to almost MOP$130 billion (US$16.28 billion).
The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, explained the government’s annual budget to the Legislative Assembly (AL) on Friday, expressing his expectation that the gaming industry in Macau would slowly recover next year following COVID-19.
Annual GGR was MOP$292.45 billion (US$36.63 billion) in 2019 and the SAR government had expected GGR of around MOP$260 billion in 2020 before the pandemic hit.
Instead, the government reduced its 2020 GGR budget to MOP$130 billion in March and then again to MOP$49.8 billion (US$6.24 billion) in May. The accumulated GGR through October now sits at MOP$45.8 billion (US$5.74 billion), having shown the first signs of meaningful recovery in October with a 229% increase over September to MOP$7.27 billion (US$911 million)
Gaming tax in 2021 is expected to be around MOP$50 billion (US$6.26 billion).
“The Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) to Macau resumed for mainland China on 23 September and in October, despite [the benefit of] Golden Week (1 to 8 October), our GGR increased to MOP$220 million per day on average,” Lei said.
“When more mainland visitors return and Hong Kong travelers are gradually allowed to visit (without quarantine), we believe that daily GGR could reach MOP$350 million per day next year, and the annual GGR would be about MOP$130 billion.”
The Secretary also revealed that visitor arrivals in October were close to 603,000 in total, around 19,450 per day, compared with 227,000 total arrivals in August.
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