Singapore and Malaysian Casino Markets Will Have Slow Recovery In 2022

Summary

• Fitch Ratings predicts market recovery for Singapore and Malaysia in 2022
• Singapore to reach 75 percent levels of 2019
• Malaysian to reach 65 percent levels of 2019

The global land based casino markets are slowly starting to recover after going through a massive slump in 2020 and in the first half of 2021 due to COVID-19 and the lockdown that followed. Casino operators around the world have been forced to implement stringent social distancing measures and as a result, a lot of casinos are still operating at limited capacity.

Fitch Ratings has done an analysis of the Singapore and Malaysian casino markets and predict that things will improve in 2022 at a reasonable pace.

Singapore To Witness 75 Percent Level Of 2019

Fitch Ratings released a report this week which showed that in 2022, Singapore’s casino market should generate around 75 percent of the revenues that came in during 2019. Singapore’s casino market is currently dominated by two mega casino resorts.

Resorts World Sentosa which is operated by Genting Singapore Ltd and the iconic Marina Bay Sands which is run by Las Vegas Sands Corp can expect things to get better in 2022 due to planned expansions but the market is not expected to make a full recovery next year.

The combined gross gaming revenues generated by these two casino operators in 2019 amounted to $3.35 billion with Resorts World Sentosa bringing in $1.19 billion and Marina Bay Sands pulling in $2.17 billion.

One of the reasons why Singapore’s casino market will continue to be a bit sluggish in 2022 is due to a slowdown in tourism. Asian visitors are still cautious when it comes to traveling due to the on-going threat of COVID-19.

Malaysia To Witness 65 Percent Level Of 2019

Fitch Ratings predicts that Malaysia’s casino market will generate around 65 percent of the revenues that came in during 2019. The Malaysian casino market is dominated by Resorts World Genting which is owned and operated by Malaysian giant Genting Malaysia Bhd.

Genting Malaysia said that overall revenue from its Resorts World Genting gaming and non-gaming operations amounted to $1.68 billion during 2019. Resorts World Genting depends heavily on tourist traffic to generate revenues and that’s one of the reasons why a slow recovery is expected in 2022.

Fitch stated that they expect border restrictions to ease and tourism to pick up as 2022 unfolds.