Macau’s gross gaming revenues for the first seven days of March are estimated to have risen by around 19% compared with the last week of February, driven by eased travel restrictions in mainland China according to analysts at brokerage Sanford C Bernstein.
In their weekly GGR report, Bernstein’s Vitaly Umansky, Kelsey Zhu and Louis Li estimate GGR from 1 to 7 March reached MOP$1.8 billion (US$225 million), or MOP$257 million (US$32 million) per day. That figure is 70% lower than the same week in March 2019 (pre-COVID) but 19% higher than the final seven days of February 2021. It is, however, tracking 2% lower per day than February as a whole.
Bernstein also estimates that VIP volume was down by between 2% and 3% from 1 to 7 March while mass volume showed a sequential increase.
Early predictions for March 2021 GGR suggest a decline on March 2019 numbers of around 65%.
“China has eased travel restrictions as their COVID spike from January and February has come under control,” the analysts said. “We expect visitation and GGR to slowly improve during March and April.
“However, without a major change to NAT testing, IVS or group visa issuance changes and the opening of Hong Kong, GGR and visitation will remain depressed. We expect a more robust GGR uplift to begin this summer.”
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