Macau casinos reopen today
29 of Macau’s 41 casinos are expected to reopen today, after a 15-day shutdown to avoid a spread of coronavirus.
Macau.- The gaming industry in Macau resumed operations earlier today, after being shut down for 15 days to avoid a coronavirus spread in the region. 29 of the city’s 41 casinos reopened at 12 am local time.
The remaining 12 casinos asked the government for permission to delay the reopening. Macau had given Macau’s six operators 30 days to get back into business earlier this month.
The 12 casinos that will remain closed until further notice are: Sands Cotai Centre, Melco’s Altira, Galaxy’s Waldo, Rio and President; SJM’s Oceanus, Eastern, Macau Jockey Club, Golden Dragon and Casino Taipa; and Macau Palace and Greek Mythology (which haven’t been operating for a few years).
Nomura Instinet analyst Harry Curtis explained that it will take time for the industry to fully recover, and that the breakthrough will come once China resumes its individual visit schemes (IVS).
“The consensus among local operators we connected with over the weekend is that there will be little material improvement in visitation, GGR and EBITDA until the IVS and tour group customers are permitted to cross the border, which may not normalise for another six weeks,” Curtis said. “The reopening is akin to keeping a body alive without the food required to sustain it,” he warned.
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.
