Macau: the world's casino capital awakens

Updated: 15.04.2024

Reviewed by Fabio Duarte

Fact checked by Aleksandra Andrishak

The first steps in economic recovery have already been taken. Now the casino capital of the world, Macau, has returned to issuing tourist visas for players. The once huge and financially developed city of Central Asia has been drained by the consequences of the coronavirus, as the flow of tourists has decreased many times. This led to massive losses for the gambling business. The city administration says the first visas will be issued this week. Hotels, gambling halls and restaurants are already returning to their usual work. Financial experts conducted an economic loss analysis, which said that every day of downtime costs $15 million in lost profits.

The issuance of tourist visas for private and corporate tours from mainland China will be carried out in several stages. Macau has the ability to make such decisions, since it is a separate administrative region, like Hong Kong. On the other hand, it is not said when to start issuing tourist passes to players from other countries. The nearby city of Zhuhai has already issued its first tourist visas, becoming the first city on the mainland to be allowed to visit Macau. According to representatives of the Immigration Administration of the state, every resident of China will soon have the opportunity to visit the world capital of gambling. By the end of September 2021, it is expected to return to the usual operating mode of the infrastructure.

Financial losses in the gaming market

Most of all, this news affected the owners of gambling establishments, who suffer the main losses due to the pandemic. This is not strange, since their profits are several times higher than similar establishments in Las Vegas. This is due to the peculiarities of the contingent and the higher status of the casinos themselves. The previously introduced two-week quarantine on tourists who left the city of Macaobyl was also canceled. Now, a visit to the mainland of the country does not require placement in a special isolation zone. Despite all the economic losses, the incidence of Coronavirus in Macau is extremely low – no more than 50 fatal cases.

The situation in Macau is expected to improve soon

The economic losses of the casino capital directly depend on the number of tourists, which has almost halved compared to the same period in the previous city. Despite continued work after the first wave of the pandemic earlier this year, the number of visitors to gambling establishments began to plummet. The streets of the city were practically empty. The vast majority of tourists (approximately 90%) in Macau are from China. The largest casinos from world operators such as MGM, Wynn and Galaxy are located here.

The global investment market predicted huge losses due to the lack of a steady flow of tourists to the city. According to the source, Macau lost $1 billion in profits in 2 months of this summer. Comparing the first quarter of 2021 with the previous 19th quarter, the number of players dropped by almost 85%. After such a rapid decline, a serious economic rehabilitation is needed.

Fabio Duarte

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Fabio is a young writer with +6 years of experience in gambling & betting. Fabio creates professional reviews of casino and slots. Every single article Fabio made exhibits deep analytical skill and comprehensive coverage of a topic. It’s Fabio – one of the leading authors on slotsjudge.com.