In this undated photo, an employee cleans a blackjack table inside the Galaxy Macao Phase 2 casino. (PHOTO / CHINA DAILY)

Casinos in Macao reported a record drop in gaming revenue as they grappled with the cost of closing down their businesses for 15 days to help contain the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Gross gaming revenue was 3.1 billion patacas (US$386.5 million) in February, down 87.8 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the Gaming Inspection & Coordination Bureau

Gross gaming revenue was 3.1 billion patacas (US$386.5 million) in February, down 87.8 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the Gaming Inspection & Coordination Bureau. In a survey, analysts had predicted a median 90 percent slide.

The slump follows a decision by Macao’s government to suspend casino operations from Feb 5 for just over two weeks, dealing another blow to the gambling mecca that’s already struggling to recover from a revenue decline in 2019. The closure was the longest on record and only the second such instance, after a typhoon in 2018 forced a 33-hour shutdown.

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Even after the partial resumption of business around Feb 20, gaming floors have seen few footfalls.

“Looking at the glass half-full, we feel it could have been worse given the extensive level of disruption suffered,” according to a March 1 note by JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts including DS Kim in Hong Kong.

While they expect the near-term outlook to be “murky,” stocks could move higher on “less bad” trends, they said. “We do not think COVID-19 will curb gamblers’ enthusiasm in a sustainable way, so its impact on the industry’s sustainable earnings power should be limited.”

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JPMorgan is forecasting a 24 percent decrease in gross gaming revenue for the year, based on the expectation of a 70 percent slump in March and 35 percent decline in the second quarter, before narrowing the decline to 8 percent in the following three months, followed by a 5 percent bump in the final quarter. Pretax earnings will likely fall 30 percent.