According to official data in 2018, Macao has about 41 large casinos with more than 57,000 employees working in the industry. This is also the Casino center of the world on par with Las Vegas of America. The biggest gambling center in the world could lose billions if the nCov epidemic is not controlled soon.

Casino Lisboa has been temporarily closed

Casino Lisboa – one of the most famous casinos in the world, has been engulfed in darkness. Management company SJM Holdings Ltd. Has to stop operating Lisboa casino for 15 days. This is because all casinos in Macau have to be closed under government orders to prevent the epidemic.

The Macau government asked to stop gambling and related industries for 2 weeks after finding a virus-infected patient working in the field. This could be a crisis with the largest gambling center in the world.

The damage numbers

A few casino owners have revealed initial damage numbers. Wynn Resorts CEO, Matt Maddox, revealed that the casino is losing around $ 2.4-2.6 million per day. This enterprise has 12,200 employees in Macau. In 2019, Wynn raises $ 6.6 billion, of which about 70% from two facilities in Macau.

Meanwhile, Melco Resorts & Entertainment said it would abandon the deal worth $ 1.2 billion to get a 20% stake in Crown Resort. At the same time, this business will revalue all non-core investments this year.

Fitch Ratings estimates that the crisis could “blow away” US $ 3.3 billion of 6 casino operators in Macau including Wynn, Melco, Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts International, and two other US-listed companies.

Since many traditional casinos are temporarily close, lots of players have chosen online casino as an alternative. Recently, the number of players at online casinos has significantly increased, especially at NJ-bet.com. This also means their revenue has been rising thanks to the current situation.

Gloomy future awaits

Fitch Solutions Macro Research warns that even if the casinos come back soon, they are still affected. This is because Chinese tourists are quite concerned about the unpredictable impact of coronavirus or have to temporarily tighten their spending in the near future.

The unit forecasts that Macau’s economic growth may decline by 3.8% this year. According to Fitch, the crisis will cause at least 6 casino management companies in Macau to lose about 3.3 billion USD. The extent of damage depends on the time the coronavirus is controlled. Macau is well-known as the place where casinos operate all day long but now, they all turn off the lights.

Macau’s $ 36 billion gambling industry depends heavily on tourists from China. Before the Chinese New Year holiday in 2020, the number of visitors from the mainland dropped by up to 80%.

The crisis could be worse if the date of reopening casinos in Macau cannot be determined. Even when reopening, there will be a gloomy time for Macau casinos to face. Even the famous tourist destination St. Paul’s Church – which was always full of tourists, is now deserted and gloomy.

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