Macau casino operations impacted by typhoon

The storm has already badly affected the Philippines and forced the Chinese government to evacuate over three million people in southern China.

Fear of the typhoon’s impact on Macau, including a 33-hour halt in operations for casinos on the island, resulted in Macau casino stocks falling at the start of trading in Hong Kong Monday morning, with the Bloomberg Intelligence index for Macau casinos showing a decline of 2.1%.

Many analysts have begun to half their revenue growth expectations for the gambling hub in September, as an estimated $186m in revenue was lost during the 33-hour operational halt.

Macau has not seen its casinos forced to close their doors before, with Typhoon Mangkhut causing the first halt in gambling operations since foreign operator licenses were awarded in 2002.

Typhoon Mangkhut also added to investor concerns currently facing Macau, such as the impact of the US and China’s trade war on VIP gamblers visiting the island.

Last year, tropical storm Hato brought similar disruption to Macau. Hato claimed eight lives in Macau and caused power outages, flooding and a delay to MGM Cotai’s opening.

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Harrison Sayers

Gambling Writer

Harrison Sayers is a journalist and editorial professional specialising in the gambling and iGaming sector. He began his career at Gambling Insider, where he served first as Editorial Assistant (July 2017 – November 2017) and then as Staff Writer from March 2018 to October 2018, contributing news coverage and industry analysis to both the publication’s digital and print channels.

Since then, he has continued his career in gambling regulation and compliance journalism, working with GamblingCompliance and VIXIO where he covers regulatory issues and industry developments across European and African jurisdictions.

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