After making back ground in February following a slow start to the year, the Macau casino industry has seen its monthly gross gaming revenue (GGR) drop 0.4% year-on-year for March to MOP25.8bn ($3.19bn).
Accumulated revenue for the year so far sits at MOP76.15bn, a 0.5% decrease.
January revenue declined 5% to MOP24bn, putting accumulated revenue at -5% year-on-year; but February’s figures showed an increase of 4% to MOP25.3bn.
However, March did see a major licensing announcement in Macau, despite the casino sector's marginal fall in GGR.
Operators MGM China and SJM Holdings had their gaming contracts extended until 2022.
Their licenses were set to expire in 2020 but the Macau government has announced both operators will pay a one-off fee of MOP200m ($25m) to secure extensions.
The Macau government had remained quiet on the subject, stating it was potentially going to focus on other areas, such as tourism, to increase revenue.
The duo, alongside Sands China, Wynn Macau, Galaxy Entertainment and Melco Resorts & Entertainment, will all need to rebid if they want their licenses renewed further, which are due to expire in June 2022.
