Consultant Kevin Clayton, a former Galaxy Entertainment Group CMO, believes casinos in Macau can return to 2019 levels of gross gaming revenue in Q2 2021; although he admits this is dependent on borders to China reopening following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Clayton said during an ICE Asia Digital panel: "Gaming levels should return to 2019 levels by Q2 next year. But we don’t know when borders will open.
"If Greater China opened up its borders to Macau, this would have a huge impact."
Fellow panellist Vitaly Umansky, senior research analyst, global gaming, at Sandford C. Bernstein, foresees an even speedier return to normalised gaming levels; he pinpointed Q1 next year – providing external factors do not hinder Macau’s casino sector.
"There’s a lot of uncertainty over liquidity but the second half of next year should be fairly robust, on the back of a strong recovering economy," Umansky explained.
"The caveat again is no second waves, people being able to travel and flights from China into Macau and Hong Kong returning to a normalised level. That’s going to be critical but we’re not there yet.
"So the first quarter of next year, we could be returning to 2019 levels."
