This Week in Gambling: Las Vegas losing millions to Macau COVID lockdown

This week's gambling news comes from Las Vegas via Macau, China, which has been shut down for two weeks due to the latest coronavirus outbreak. Our Macau lockdown update finds this new surge of COVID-19 could cost Macau billions, and is already costing Las Vegas gaming companies like MGM Resorts, Wynn Resorts, and Las Vegas Sands millions.

As the Macau lockdown ended and Macau casinos reopened over the weekend, but there were no players beating down the doors. In fact, with the exception of those who work and live there, almost no one is visiting the city built for gambling. Travel restrictions from the Chinese government have the city on lock down. Will Las Vegas casinos and US gambling companies be hit by this economic wave? Well, they already have. MGM Resorts, Wynn Resorts, and Las Vegas Sands have all reported losses and seen their stocks falling as the news from Macau costs them millions of dollars a day.

All of this comes from the latest outbreak of coronavirus in the country. Beijing has a “zero Covid” policy in place, meaning that restrictions are harsh, and punishments for violating them are serious. Is it any wonder that the city is void of visitors? Even though Macau lockdown is over for now and Macau casinos are up and running, the ravel restrictions have been in place for several months and will stay in place for at least a few more.

Along with hundreds of local businesses, Macau casinos are operating with 50% of their usual staff while profits are already down nearly that much for the year. This means that the difficult times are far from over. Complicating the issues even more is the fact that it’s time to renew gambling licenses, and taxes on gaming revenue just went up. MGM Resorts, Wynn Resorts, & Las Vegas Sands stocks are all down as the Coronavirus costs them millions each day.



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