More than 40 casinos in Macau reportedly saw their total contribution to the local economy fall 79.6% year-on-year to about $5.22 billion in 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic sent visitor numbers plummeting.
According to official information from Enclave Statistics and the Census Bureau, the total surplus held by nine companies licensed to operate some form of game in Macau in 2020 was approximately $2.76 billion, down 87.9% year-on-year. The source also added that the industry-like total surplus ratio, which measures how effectively receipts translate into excess, fell 26.1 percentage points to 36.1%.
Macau is home to some of the world's largest and most prestigious casinos, including SJM Holdings Limited' iconic Casino Grand Lisboa and Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited's Mammoth Studio City Macau. However, gambling-friendly facilities closed for two weeks in February last year due to the coronavirus, and total gaming revenue since then has been consistently grim as a direct result of various new travel restrictions and increased public health and social distancing protocols.
The Statistics and Census Bureau reportedly explained that the addition of these barriers disrupted the size of its business for 2020 and that the annual total gaming revenue of Macau's licensed casino operators club fell 78.4% year-on-year to about $7.97 billion. Authorities also reported a 79.4% drop in related gaming revenue last year to about $7.52 billion as rental revenue fell 29.1% somewhere in the $4.74 million.
According to Inside Asian Gaming, Macau's gaming industry saw total spending fall 60.6% year-over-year in 2020 to about $5.79 billion, including an 83.3% drop in customer rebates, fees and purchases to $1.18 billion. To make matters worse, many casinos in the small area simultaneously saw a 68.8% decrease in total operating costs to $1.24 billion, with just a 74.5% drop in spending on free goods to $579 billion, sources said.
Lastly, the Statistics and Census Bureau reported that the total salary for 2020 in the Macau gaming sector decreased by 12.5% year-on-year to $2.46 billion, but the share of total expenditure increased by 23.4% points to the top 42%.
Despite all these downturns, Inside Asian Gaming reports that the gaming industry maintained its position as a major tax source for the Macau government last year at well over 70%, despite a year-on-year decline of about 73.6% to $3.73 billion in contributions.
