Yet the complete collapse of travel during the pandemic hit the city hard. Macau’s casinos generated about $36 billion in revenue in 2019 Nevada, despite being home to Las Vegas, reported just under $12 billion in gambling revenue over the same period. Before the COVID pandemic, the gaming industry contributed over half the city’s GDP and employed about 17% of the city’s 600,000 residents. (The city, like its neighbor Hong Kong, operates under a different legal structure from that of mainland China). Macau is the only region in China where casino gambling is legal. “Asia remains the backbone of the company,” Goldstein said back in 2021.
