Casinos may have reopened in Macao but coronavirus cannot be so easily wished away. Fears of its spread hit U.S. stock markets hard, with the Dow Jones tumbling 840 points, ceding all 2020 gains. Overseas 
bourses are taking it hard, too, worse than American ones. Like Ron Swanson on Parks & Recreation, investors are putting their money in gold. Airlines, computer companies, even shoe manufacturers are preparing for their bottom lines to catch the flu. Oil prices are down 4.5% (rare good news for consumers) but your overseas purchases—like that Alpine Symphony CD I just ordered from Amazon—are going to take longer. While most of the infection is confined to China, some 79,000 cases have been chalked up worldwide. So bad is the situation that a Thursday Chinese bulletin of 394 new cases and 114 deaths was taken as good news. Thanks, Beijing, for bungling the response to the outbreak. Oh, and guess who’s making out like bandits? Biotech and bleach.
Casino gambling in Macao is described as “a mere trickle” following the 15-day ban. While 29 of 39 casinos chose to reopen, they did so with an 
emaciated offering of all-important table games: roughly 1,800 of 6,754. Players per table are restricted to four, max, so as minimize risk of spreading germs, according to the South China Morning Post. Casino chips were cleaned on the spot. Similar operational curbs have been placed on slot machines, idling half of Venetian Macao‘s 1,700 devices. “Previously, even in the quiet hours, there would be some noise from people who were betting. But now, I can only hear the background music. No one’s here,” one player told the SCMP.
Customers not only have to wear masks but subject themselves to temperature readings at entrances and exits. As a consequence, “many halls looked desolate.” At venerable Casino Lisboa, not one VIP player 
showed up. None of the 10 shuttered casinos—such as Sands Cotai Central and Oceanus—are among the enclave’s marquee properties. At least five junketeers—including under-scrutiny Suncity Group—are resuming operations.
“Even with the casinos reopening, there will still be a dearth of customers,” wrote Sanford C. Bernstein analysts. “We currently estimate that hotel occupancy in Macau is around 10 percent-15 percent, with some customers staying over since Chinese New Year. However, the suspension of group travel and IVS visa issuance eliminates the largest source of customers. Until the suspensions are lifted, most mainland Chinese customers will not be able to enter Macau.” So you can see why casino reopening was called an “empty gesture” by Nomura Institnet analyst Harry Curtis. Revenue declines are forecast at 80% for February and 50% in March.
The ramifications could also extend to casino construction. JP Morgan Securities predicts further delays to Grand Lisboa Palace, in The Londoner (aka Sands Cotai Central) and at Galaxy Macau Phase III. According to the Macau Federation of Trade Unions, 53% of its members are worried about their 
job prospects. (Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association wants gloves issued to casino workers and for tableside drink service to be ceased.) They’re certain to be leaning heavily on a “special aid fund” that Melco Resorts & Entertainment set up for members of the tourist industry. Casino companies looking at cash-flow shortfalls of $127 million (Wynn Resorts), $307 million (Las Vegas Sands) and $87 million (MGM Resorts International) may not be so clement—although displeasing City Hall is always a legitimate fear. In any event, stock analysts are kissing 2020 and its once-projected casino recovery goodbye and pinning their hopes on next year.
Meanwhile, coronavirus has redounded to the benefit of casinos in Singapore. Both Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa will receive 10% tax breaks to compensate them for lost business. It’s an ill wind indeed that doesn’t blow somebody some good.
* It’s a big day for sports betting. William Hill has accessed the Michigan market, thanks to a new partnership with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians. William Hill will be the tribe’s exclusive sports and Internet-betting provider, in a “long-term” (duration unspecified) pact. William Hill will maintain terrestrial footholds at Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel and at Leelanau Sands Casino. The company hopes to have both operational in time for the next NFL season.
In a near-simultaneous announcement, Scientific Games and the Golden Nugget chain unveiled “a new multi-state, multi-product, multi-channel agreement.” The deal will provide SGMS’ OpenGaming platform 
to Nuggets in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, rolling out to other states that provide online betting, as it occurs. The OpenSports suite of applications has also been thrown into the deal, with an option to provide to retail locations in New Jersey, Mississippi and Nevada. According to Scientific, it “currently serves a total of 35 sports betting customers in 16 countries.”
* How does MGM Resorts International achieve sustainability? With creativity. For instance, one has to think outside the box when—as really happened—a trade show leaves behind an entire barn. Yes, a whole barn. One approach is to work with local nonprofits. “One group needed disposables but wanted them to be compostable, so we found some BPI-certified plastic products that were supposed to be compostable,” says Director of Sustainable Operations Brittany Price. (Leftover food is always welcome, too.) The company provides event planners with decks of 52 cards bearing an equal number of sustainability tips. Clever.
Jottings: Is there a way forward for the Culinary Union after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) crushed it in the Nevada caucus? The Culinary has to face the prospect of spending the autumn campaigning for a candidate whose central platform plank—Medicare for All—it abhors … Arizona 
Gov. Doug Ducey (R) was a no-show at the opening of Desert Diamond Casino, even though he could take some of the credit for it … Expanded tribal gambling in Alabama is polling poorly, according to the state’s Republican Party … The Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau has unveiled a new branding campaign. Amazingly, it is not “Wanna gamble? Go someplace else.” … Gloating about winning at Atlantic City is apparently one of top 25 New Jersey pastimes—along with hating “bennies” from other states who litter the place … Coronavirus is having serious consequences in Italy. The Teatro alla Scala has suspended its opera season and Venice has canceled its legendary carnival, to say nothing of —perish the thought!—football matches.
