Macau ordered all casinos to close late Friday as Typhoon Saola wreaked havoc across the city, a rare shutdown in the world’s largest gambling hub.
The city lowered its storm warning from the highest No. 10 level to the No. 8 signal at 6 a.m. Saturday, hours after neighboring Hong Kong took the same step. The local winds will remain, even as Saola — located about 70 kilometers (44 miles) southwest of Macau — began to move away, according to the local Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau.
Authorities haven’t yet announced when the casinos will reopen. According to an earlier order issued by the region’s Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng, gambling facilities would be temporarily shut when a signal higher than No. 8 is issued. The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau said earlier it was overseeing the closure and coordinating with affected businesses.
The city’s casinos now face the double whammy of the typhoon and a seasonal slowdown after a tourism boom during the summer holidays, which saw gaming revenue in August climbing to the highest since January 2020. Other challenges for Macau — the only place in China where casinos are legal — include the mainland’s weakening economic outlook and consumer sentiment, as well as a dearth of high rollers following Beijing’s crackdown on VIP bettors.
Macau rarely orders city-wide closures of casinos, which are required to stay open 24 hours a day. It suspended the operations of all the gambling facilities twice amid its worst outbreaks during Covid-19. In 2018, Typhoon Mangkhut forced a 33-hour shutdown of the Chinese territory, and that was estimated to have cost gaming operators including Sands China Ltd. and MGM China Holdings Ltd. as much as $186 million in revenue.
What Bloomberg Intelligence Says
Casino closures starting at 11 p.m. on Sept. 1 in Macau — when Typhoon Saola’s signal will rise to No. 9 — could cut the city’s gaming revenue for the month as weekend business vanishes. Typhoon Mangkhut in September 2018 closed casinos for 33 hours. Macau’s September gaming revenue may reach 70% of 2019’s level, vs. 71% in August, as growth after the opening of Melco’s W Macau and Galaxy’s Andaz Macau midmonth will be reduced by Saola.
— Angela Hanlee and Rebecca Ziye Wang, analysts
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The city on Friday also closed operations at its border checkpoints with mainland China, where the bulk of Macau’s tourists come from.
Hundreds of flights to and from Macau were canceled for Friday and Saturday, a notice from the local airport showed.
(Updates second paragraph with details on the storm)
