Macau GGR to reach pre-pandemic levels by 2024, analysts say
Fitch Ratings Inc predicts Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) will return to 2019 levels by 2024.
Macau.- Fitch Ratings Inc has predicted that Macau’s GGR will reach pre-pandemic levels by 2024.
The prediction comes as the agency gave MGM Resorts International, the US-based parent company of Macau casino firm MGM China Holdings Ltd, a BB- rating because of weaker financial flexibility due to sale-leaseback transactions over the past few years and higher rent costs.
Analysts said the negative outlook reflects the risks and uncertainty the gaming industry is facing due to the Covid-19 pandemic especially where casino operators rely on international tourists.
The agency said that Macau can expect a 53 per cent GDP economic rebound in 2021, while Macau’s GGR will reach half of the pre-pandemic levels.
In June, after five months of growth, Macau registered its lowest GGR since November 2020, with a drop of 37 per cent month-on-month. However, the number represents an increase of 813 per cent from June 2020, when the city registered GGR of MOP$716m.
The drop was partly due to an outbreak of Covid-19 cases in the neighbouring province of Guangdong, which led Macau to tighten Covid-19 countermeasures at casinos and other tourism venues.
Macau’s GGR for the first six months of the year stands at MOP$49.02bn, up 45.4 per cent from the MOP$33.72bn in the first six months of 2020.
May saw the highest GGR of the year to date, mainly thanks to the Labour Day break, when Macau’s Public Security Police reported that 165,500 tourists came to Macau.
