It has been unsettling for some time in the casinos in Macau. The results are very disappointing due to the corona pandemic, which keeps tourists away from Macau. After 2 years of corona, the Chinese government is still not keen on many travel movements within China, which keeps the million Chinese tourists away from Macau. In addition, the situation regarding casino licenses is causing a lot of unrest in Macau, as there is still a lot of uncertainty about this.
Among others, the Wynn and Melco Resort are still with an expiring casino license. The government has long been in the process of renewing the casino licenses for us casinos such as the Wynn. However, it does not yet want to hand out long-term licenses as it did before. For example, licenses of several years were distributed. For the time being, the Wynn and Melco resort is only eligible for a six-month extension. However, this is not free, the casinos have to cough up almost 6 million dollars. Now that the casinos are left empty due to the Chinese government's firm intervention regarding covid, the casinos will see this 6 million fee as a noose around their necks.
Macau experienced its worst month in nearly 2.5 years last month. Macau posted gross gaming revenue of MOP $ 3.67 billion (US $ 459 million) in March, down 55.8% year-on-year and 53.7% from February, according to information from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
GGR (gross gaming revenue) was negatively impacted by COVID-19 outbreaks across much of mainland China, including both Zhuhai and Shenzhen(major cities near Macau)-the latter of which closed for a week in the middle of the month.