After the coronavirus alarm, Macau casinos may have gotten permission to reopen to the public; however, the casinos don’t seem much interested in reopening until they’re certain the public wants in.
Macau authorities informed the special administrative region’s casino operators earlier this week, that they would be permitted to restart their gaming operations at midnight on Thursday (20). The announcement saw the end of the 15-day closure that Macau authorities executed as a way to lessen further spread of the coronavirus.
However, while it was expected the casinos would be itching to relaunch their operations and compensate for all that lost income, Macau’s government also gave the casinos the option of applying for an extension of up to 30 days of the holdup of their operations if they thought they weren’t prepared to restart business as usual.
Though it’s unclear if any operator has applied for an extension till now, on Tuesday, the Macau Daily Times reported that until they’re certain there’s sufficient public demand, at least five of Macau’s six casino concessionaires don’t intend to return to full capacity. Most are thinking of phased openings which match guest demand and staff availability.
As reported by calvinayre.com, analysts are implying that casinos are wise to moderate their expectations for a fast recovery. Harry Curtis, Nomura analyst implied that China may not totally relax its restrictions on mainland residents’ entree to the individual visit scheme program for further six weeks, making any resumption to full casino operations an “empty gesture.”
However, casinos need to do more than simply go through the motions in rearranging their operations to adhere to the Macau government’s orders to lessen the risk of a big number of individuals assembling in close proximity.
In any one area, only half the gaming tables will be permitted to operate, while every gambler sitting at a table, is required to have an empty chair between themselves and another gambler, and standing bets will not be allowed. Likewise, slots jockeys are required to keep at least one machine between themselves and their neighbor. From gamblers to casino staff, everybody must put on masks until told not to.
Macau’s operators have given hints of the amount of money the 14-day closure was costing them, with Wynn Resorts informing it was losing up to $2.5m per day, mostly because of staffing costs. Analysts have implied that the market’s February revenue could fall as much as 80% year-on-year.
