SJM casinos lose $133m as VIP gambling turnover falls 95.5%

Macau casino operator SJM Holdings lost $133m in the third quarter as the gaming market struggled to shake off its pandemic hangover.

Preliminary figures released Thursday show the Hong Kong-listed SJM generated revenue of just HK$879m ($113.4m) in the three months ending September 30, down 89.3% from the same period last year. The company booked negative earnings of HK$782m (-182.3%) and a net loss of over HK$1b (-239.7%).

The company didn’t mince words, saying it had been “severely impacted” by the COVID-19 pandemic, and its year-to-date losses have grown to HK$2.44b as revenue slumped by nearly 80% over the first nine months of 2020.

VIP gambling turnover was down 95.5% to just HK$4.1b but an outsized 4.9% win rate (+1.8 points) limited the VIP gambling revenue decline to a slightly less onerous 93%. But the HK$200m in VIP revenue was dwarfed by the mass market table contribution of HK$690m (-89%) while slot machines suffered the smallest decline, falling 80.8% to HK$57m.