Macau’s casino resorts are trying to lure customers back into their premises with big accommodation and dining discounts, local media has reported. The former Portuguese colony, located on China’s south coast, was hit by Typhoon Hato last Wednesday.
The severe tropical storm left at least ten dead and 240 injured in Macau. Casino operators were forced to shutter their properties for safety measures and due to flooding and power blackouts.
Hong Kong authorities raised a Number 10 hurricane signal as the typhoon’s powerful gales shattered windows on taller buildings and uprooted trees. Hato’s Wednesday landfall on China’s south coast was the first time a Number 10 warning, the highest possible, was triggered in five years and the third time in 20 years.
Expected Consequences for Macau’s Casino Industry
According to initial estimates, Hato would cost more than $200 million to Macau’s economy. Casinos are also expected to lose big as a result from the tropical storm that hit the city at the busiest time of the year.
Macau, the small enclave known to be the only Chinese territory where casino gambling is allowed, has entered its first year of casino revenue recovery after seeing its casino industry experience its worst downfall in the period between 2014 and 2016.
A crackdown on corruption and gambling, launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping a few years ago, saw high rollers from Mainland China withdraw from Macau and its casinos to keep a rather low profile. As a result, the city’s casino revenue saw double-digit monthly drops for two straight years.
Last summer, after some of Macau’s existing and new casino resorts focused their attention on attracting more mass-market players and non-gambling tourists, the city’s casino revenue began rising, although it is still quite far from its peak in the early 2010s.
It is yet to be seen how much casinos will lose as a consequence from Hato, but it is believed that operators have been hit severely. As mentioned above, they eye recovery of their businesses with big discounts on different services offered at the integrated resorts.
According to latest media reports, some of the complexes have resumed operations, although both power and water supplies are yet to be stabilized.
Staff Discontent
As reported by South China Morning Post and other local news outlets, casino operators will have another important task to handle, aside from recovering operations and attracting patrons. It seems that multiple complaints have been filed by casino staff in the days after the typhoon’s landfall.
Reportedly, workers at some of the hotel and casino resorts were asked to volunteer for cleaning up after Hato hit the city. Others were forced to go to work by taxis during the storm without being reimbursed afterwards.
As per the city’s labor guidelines, employees should not be required to report for duty during Number 8 typhoon signals.
