The downward trend continues in Asia’s largest gambling destination. All of the casinos in Macau are now open, yet tourism rates and revenue earnings are still low here. New reports indicate that Macau’s casino industry saw another major dip this August.
It’s disappointing news for officials in the city. Many of the US casino companies here saw their stock prices dip after these new reports surfaced. Today, we’re going to take a look at exactly how much the gambling industry here earned last month.
Let’s get into it!
Tourism into Macau is Slowly Increasing
In the past, Macau was one of the most-visited cities in all of Asia. The Chinese territory is home to a large number of massive casino-resorts. With all forms of gambling banned in Mainland China, this is the most popular destination for Chinese gamblers.
For years, tourism into this city was increasing rapidly. Beginning in 2016, however, this trend began to change. China’s economy slowed down rapidly as the trade disputes with the United States intensified. As a result, fewer Chinese Nationals were willing to gamble with their money in Macau.
This was taking a serious toll on many of the businesses here. Junket businesses, in particular, were being hit extremely hard. It’s no surprise that this situation has gotten exponentially worse throughout 2020.
For a brief moment, all of the casinos in Macau were forced to shut down. It was an unprecedented moment, and officials here immediately started looking at ways to reopen the territory’s economy. The casinos were eventually given permission to open back up, yet travel between Macau and Mainland China remained almost impossible.
Fortunately, many travel restrictions between the two destinations have been lifted. As a result, tourism is slowly increasing. Many analysts predict that casual gamblers and tourists will help to bring Macau’s economy back to normal, rather than an influx of high-rollers.
New reports show that revenue in August fell once again.
August Was Another Bad Month for Macau’s Casino Industry
No one expects things to turn around overnight in Macau. Many analysts, however, felt that the gambling industry here would be in a better place now than it really is. Things have been slow to recover and it’s still not clear when things will start to turn around.
This week, Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau released a new report detailing the revenue earnings for the month of August. According to the government body, casinos in this territory managed to bring in about $277 last month. That’s a 90% drop when compared to the same month in 2019.
There is a silver lining to all of this. These new reports show that Macau’s casino industry increased its revenue by 66% when compared to July. Despite that fact, US casino companies with property here have seen their stock prices dip.
Las Vegas Sands saw its prices drop by 1.07% after the revenue reports came out. Wynn Resorts experienced a 0.78% dip. Both of these companies have seen massive drops in their share prices over the entire year.
Dan Wasiolek, a prominent gambling analyst, believes Las Vegas Sands is in a good position to recover over the next six months.
“We view the company as well positioned for long-term growth in the gaming industry because of the attractive long-term growth opportunity of Macau and Sands’ dominant mass and non-gaming position on the attractive Cotai Strip,” he said.
It’s clear that Macau’s casino industry is still hurting in a big way. The reports clearly show that revenue earnings are slowly increasing, though. Stay tuned for more updates over the next few months!
Nevada’s Casino Industry is Showing Signs of Improvement
Macau isn’t proving to be the saving grace for some US casino companies that many thought it would be. That may change over the next few years. Interestingly, Nevada’s gaming revenue increased fairly substantially in August.
New reports from the Nevada Gaming Control Board show that casinos in the state brought in $743 million in August. That represents a decrease of 22% when compared to August of 2019. It’s up significantly from both June and July, though.
The Las Vegas Strip accounts for 42% of all the revenue here at $317.3 million. Downtown Las Vegas and Reno also saw decent earnings. Tourism is increasing in these gambling destinations and most predict that trend to continue for months.
Sports betting revenue increased in Nevada this August. The state’s betting operators managed to bring in $425 million. 64.3% of this revenue came from mobile and online sports betting platforms. The rest was made from land-based sportsbooks inside casinos.
For now, it seems that Nevada is outperforming Macau’s casino industry. It’s anyone’s guess how things will look six months from now. We’ll be sure to offer more revenue reports as the months go on.
Are you surprised that Macau is taking so long to recover? When do you expect things to get back to normal here? Let us know in the comments section below!
Kevin Oldroyd
A longtime sports and gambling enthusiast, Kevin looks to present up-to-date and reliable information for readers. If he’s not writing, he’s probably watching MMA or playing blackjack. …
