Macau casino turnover up 82.5% after China ends 'zero Covid-19' policy
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Shanghai, China, Feb 1 (EFE).- Gross billing from casino gaming in Macau shot up 82.5 percent year-on-year in January after the end of restrictions stemming from China’s “zero Covid-19” policy.
The income of this industry amounted in the first month of the year to some MOP 11 billion ($ 1,428 million), according to data released Wednesday by the Directorate of Inspection and Coordination of Gambling of the former Portuguese colony.
Macau is the only place in China where gambling is legal, and it is considered the casino capital of the world along with Las Vegas in the United States.
According to official data prior to the pandemic, more than half of the economic activity in the semi-autonomous region came from gambling-related businesses, which were in turn the main generators of employment in the city.
The anti-Covid-19 restrictions caused a sharp drop in the arrival of visitors to Macau, which went from receiving almost 40 million people throughout 2019 to only about 5.7 million in 2022, as its economy contracted to very high rates such as the one registered in the second quarter of last year, of 39.7 percent.
Casino operating companies in Macau listed on the stock exchange in neighboring Hong Kong reflected good investor sentiment on the recovery news, with Sands China rising 2.05 percent and Galaxy Entertainment 4.04 percent shortly before. from 15:00 local time (07:00 GMT). EFE
