Macau casinos allowed to reopen

Casinos in Macau will reopen their doors on Thursday after a 15-day closure to avoid the spread of coronavirus.

Macau.- The Finance Secretary of Macau, Lei Wai Nong, announced in a news conference on Monday that casinos in the territory will be allowed to reopen their businesses on Thursday, after a 15-day closure that was imposed to stop the spread of coronavirus’ spread in China and the area.

The government said in a statement that those casinos that are not ready to reopen can apply or a delay of up to 30 days. Those that are ready to reopen will be subject to criteria that weren’t specified.

Ever since the closure of the facilities, operators in the area have been losing a lot of money every day. Fitch Ratings estimates that around US$3.3 billion could be reported in losses for the six operators working in Macau.

Brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein issued a note last week explaining that the shutdown order could be extended for another period. “[Casino business] forecasts for the near term (1H20) are largely guesses at this time, with the biggest variables being when casinos reopen, and even more importantly when travel restrictions from China will be lifted,” said Bernstein.

According to the authorities, the decision comes after not registering any new coronavirus cases in 12 straight days. However, the territory had previously reported 10 confirmed coronavirus cases.

Financial estimations

Bernstein said that month-to-date average daily rate number is a negative 74% year compared with February 2019. “For Macau, the near term looks bleak, and GGR collapsed beginning from Chinese New Year on the back of the Wuhan coronavirus crisis,” said the analysts Vitaly Umansky, Eunice Lee and Kelsey Zhu. However, analysts agree that there will be a solid recovery in the second half of the year, and a stronger 2021.