Macau GGR up 19% in first week of March

Revenues reached MOP$1.8bn (US$225m), 19 per cent higher than in the final seven days of February.

Macau.- Macau casinos saw gross gaming revenues of MOP$257m (US$32m) per day during the first seven days of March, up 19 per cent compared to the last week of February.

However, at MOP$1.8bn (US$225m), GGR for the first week of March remains 70 per cent lower than the same week in March 2019 before the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Macau has been benefited by an easing of travel restrictions in mainland China.

According to analysts at brokerage Sanford C Bernstein, VIP volume was down by between 2 per cent and 3 per cent from March 1 to 7 while mass volume showed a sequential increase.

Bernstein said: “China has eased travel restrictions as their Covid spike from January and February has come under control. We expect visitation and GGR to slowly improve during March and April.“

In February revenue declined to MOP$7.31bn (US$914.5m), compared to MOP8.02bn (US$1.0bn) in January.