The recrudescence of coronavirus in Asia
The outbreak of the coronavirus continues to spread, which has claimed more than 400 lives in China. Thousands of people around the world are infected.
The Macau government arranged for the closure of all casinos in the Chinese autonomous region for two weeks. However, the gaming operations restrictions might be prolonged for an uncertain period of time as the virus spreads.
Macau’s Ho Iat-seng, who has just entered upon duty reported to the English-language Asian news channel CAN the following:
“This is a really hard decision, but we have to make it for the health of our Macau residents,” said Ho Iat-seng.
This is the second time when casino operations in Macau have been involuntarily discontinued. In 2018 all casinos had to close when a typhoon hit the region.
Financial lost spread beyond Macau
The gambling industry is the vital financial source in Macau as it accounts for 80 percent of the local government’s income. Moreover, Macau is the only place in China where casinos are allowed. The region has already faced with the huge players drop. The amount of casino visitors is decreased by 80 percent over the weekend.
Most commonly, the city attracts around 35 million people a year with 631,000 inhabitants, with most of them coming from mainland China. That number will be much lower this year and is likely to be the bottom line of many major international companies that have a large presence in Macau, including Melco Crown Entertainment (City of Dreams), Las Vegas Sands (Sand Macao and The Venetian Macao) and MGM Resorts (MGM Macau) and Wynn Resorts (Wynn Macau).
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