Macau’s gross gaming revenue plummeted in October, down 25.8% compared with September to just MOP$4.37 billion (US$544 million).
The decline followed a small outbreak of COVID-19 in Macau in late September, which saw neighboring Zhuhai implement a measure requiring all arrivals from Macau to enter 14 days of mandatory quarantine.
That measure, which effectively shut down Macau’s primary source of visitors, was only lifted on 19 October after two rounds of mass testing of all people in Macau returned no further positive results.
According to information published by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau today, October’s GGR result is the worst of 2021 and the lowest since September 2020, when GGR reached just MOP$2.21 billion (US$275 million). It is also 40.0% lower than October 2020, when Macau recorded GGR of MOP$7.27 billion (US$905 million), and 83.5% lower than October 2019 when GGR reached MOP$26.44 billion (US$3.3 billion).
For the first 10 months of 2021 combined, GGR has climbed 57.3% year-on-year to MOP$75.15 billion (US$9.35 billion).
As reported by Inside Asian Gaming, visitation to Macau has improved since Zhuhai lifted its mandatory quarantine requirement with the Macao Government Tourism Office reporting an average of over 25,000 visitor arrivals per day from 20 to 28 October including a high of 28,299 last Tuesday 26 October.
