A couple of days ago, Macau’s casinos were ordered to close up shop as a result of Typhoon Mangkhut. The order came from the city’s Civil Protection Operations Center on Saturday, which told all casinos to “suspend all gambling activities” as of 11 PM that night. The devastating storm, which has already claimed dozens of lives across Asia, will more than likely result in a decrease in revenue for both September, as well as the third quarter of the year.

According to Grant Govertsen, an analyst with Union Gaming (UG), the gross gaming revenue for the month will more than likely be impaired by 500-700 basic points (bps). The storm has already begun to subside, but Macau’s casinos will have lost at least 24 operating hours. This will result in lower numbers for the month.

Additionally, Govertsen points out that the growth rate for September was also reduced. Initially, UG had expected growth of around 14.7%, but the company now forecasts the growth to be between 7.7-9.3%. Third-quarter growth was lowered from 14% to 12%.

Govertsen says, “[I]t does not appear that Macau is facing widespread utility outages as was the case last year. This means that once given the greenlight to reopen by the DICJ, we believe virtually all flagship casinos can resume normal operations quite quickly. There does, of course, appear to be some flooding in the older low-lying districts of Macau (e.g. near Ponte 16 casino), as well as near the Macau ferry terminal, and even some road flooding in the Lisboa district, but we believe virtually all flagship gaming properties weathered the storm in significantly better shape than last year.”