Macau gambling industry counts profits

China's only administrative region of Macau, which allows gambling and features some of the world's largest casinos, reported a serious increase in revenue from the gambling industry for the month of January. On a year-on-year basis, the growth amounted to about 83%. In real money, the amount amount amounted to about one and a half billion dollars. Recall that the growth in revenues occurred during the Chinese New Year celebrations, when the country was visited by more than a million tourists.

In the last week of January, the number of casino guests was the highest in three years. Nevertheless, if you think back to 2019, when there were still no restrictions due to the pandemic coming from the Middle Kingdom, the revenue for January was still more than twice the current one. This data was released by the Macau government just the other day.

As a result of such an impressive performance, the average Macau casino stock index rose by 4-5%, and most analysts said that such excellent results are encouraging for the entire gambling industry in China. Recall that significant restrictions in this country due to outbreaks of COVID-19 disease are still being imposed.

As soon as the situation in the country allowed the restrictions to be relaxed, Macau took the opportunity to reopen gambling establishments, which was immediately done. The Chinese government is following very closely the strategy of the administrative area used in the fight against the pandemic.

If we recall the history, the first casinos in Macau were opened in 2002. In 20 years, the casinos of the province were able to earn billions of dollars, contributing significantly in the form of taxes to the treasury of the Middle Kingdom. However, the severe restrictions that began to be imposed after 2019 brought a large number of losses. In 2022, it turned out that the profit figures in percentage terms were the lowest in recent years. In this regard, the owners of gambling establishments have decided to invest 15 billion dollars in the industry in the next few years. At the same time, the main funds will be directed to related industries (tourism, restaurant business, etc.).