Macau had its lowest monthly income ever in July. This was because of another epidemic of the new coronavirus (Covid-19) in the area, which forced casinos to close and greatly reduced land-based gaming activity.
 Macau's total revenue for the month was MOP398m (£40.2m/€48.0m/$49.2m), which is 95.3% less than MOP8.44bn in July 2021 and a lot less than MOP24.45bn in 2019 before the epidemic.

 The number for July was likewise down 86.0% from MOP2.48bn in June, when casinos had to close because of local Covid-19 rules.

 For the year so far, revenue from the seven months ending in June was MOP26.67bn, which is 53.6% less than previous year.

 Macau first suspended all non-essential industrial and commercial activity from July 11 to 22, and then prolonged the closure as the outbreak grew. Many individuals were stuck in places throughout the city, including the Hotel Lisboa casino.

 Casinos and other enterprises that do industrial or commercial work did not start to reopen until July 23, and even then only in a limited way.

 The month with the fewest visitors comes after Ho Iat-Seng, the chief executive of Macau, said last week that the public tender process for the six open casino licenses would begin on July 29 and end on September 14.

 The public tender is the consequence of a change to Macau's gaming laws that was passed in May. It replaces the old system of three concessionaires and three subconcessionaires with a simpler model of six concessions.

 There are currently six companies that are allowed to run casinos: Las Vegas Sands, SJM, Melco, Galaxy Entertainment, MGM China, and Wynn. There isn't much difference between a concession and a subconcession.

 There was also an announcement of a new nine-member group called the Committee for Public Tendering of Concessions for the Operation of Casino Games of Fortune. This group will be in charge of the tender process.