Between January and July, gaming industry revenues grew by 263% compared to the same period in 2022, according to the Directorate for Inspection and Coordination of Games (DICJ), reaching 11 billion euros, against 19.6 billion euros collected in the same period of 2019.
Macau, which like mainland China followed the 'zero covid' policy, announced in December the cancellation of most prevention and containment measures, after almost three years of strict restrictions.
With the relief of the measures, Macau registered 11.6 million visitors in the first half of this year, indicated the Directorate of Statistics and Census Services, 236.1% more than in the same period last year, but still almost half in compared to the first half of 2019.
The gaming industry, the main source of government tax revenue in the territory, accounted for more than half of Macao's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 and employed nearly 68,000 people at the end of 2022, i.e. almost 20% of the employed population.
Gaming capital of the world, Macau is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal. Six concessionaires operate in the territory, MGM, Galaxy, Venetian, Melco, Wynn and SJM, which renewed, on December 16th, the concession contract for the next ten years and which entered into force on January 1st of this year.
The authorities demanded that the bidding include non-gambling elements and foreign visitors, hoping to diversify the territory's economy.
Source: Visão
