The coronavirus pandemic has taken the world by a storm, affecting millions of people around the globe. Their businesses — be they colossal or tiny — were also heavily affected directly or indirectly. One of the industries that suffered a heavy blow is the gambling industry, as casinos had to be closed worldwide, being places where the virus could spread easily.
Las Vegas Sands is one of the casino operators that suffered the most substantial blow, as it has lost more than a billion dollars as of June 30. Sands has properties in Las Vegas, Macau, and Singapore, all three places being gambling capitals.
The company released figures for Q2 of 2020, displaying generated revenue of only $98 million, which is 97.1% less compared to Q2 of 2019. Moreover, adjusted earnings fell from $1.27 billion in Q2 2019 to $547 million in the same period this year. The booked net loss of $985 million compared to $1.11 billion that happened a year ago.
All of the losses resulted from the shutdown of casinos that took part in Nevada, Macau, and Singapore. Out of the three, Macau’s shutdown lasted the shortest, as casinos didn’t operate for two weeks in February.
However, the city’s recovery process is much slower than expected, as many people are still opting not to travel due to the coronavirus pandemic. In other words, China ended the quarantine and restricted measures, but that’s still not enough to encourage people to travel and visit Macau.
Macau, Las Vegas, and Singapore All Record Losses
Macau’s revenue is mostly generated thanks to many VIP gamblers who roll high regularly in the city. However, the number of VIP visitors was reduced, and the ones that visited were luckier than usual. The win rate of Venetian Macao was just 1.48%, and Plaza Macao slipped to 2.42%. Finally, Parisian Macao had a negative win rate of 6.4%.
The situation was similar in Singapore too, as the majority of gaming verticals reported a decline that’s higher than 90%.
Finally, in Las Vegas, table games revenue was down by 80.7%, and slots reported a decline of 74%. However, the non-gaming verticals were hit harder as Las Vegas lacked party-goers and conventioneers, so the room occupancy was just 33.5%.
This is less compared to Singapore that reported the occupancy of 40.2%. However, it’s much better than Macau that struggled to keep occupancy rates above 10%.
Despite losing more than a billion dollars, Sheldon Adelson remains an optimist on the situation, claiming that he had an “unbridled optimism” about the market in the future, as people are going to “travel again, shop again, and come together again to enjoy entertainment and social interaction.”
The future of the casino industry around the globe is still uncertain, although many countries have begun the recovery process. The casino industry is slowly waking up from a short slumber, but it’s still sleepy and needs time to start operating again.
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