Chilean casinos have reported their financials for December and the full year. Due to the levels reached in Q4, the casinos not only showed signs of recovery but also exceeded finances from 2019, despite operating with a reduced capacity.
In 2021, the casinos’ gross revenues totaled $355m, while December figures reached $55.5m. The revenues from the last month of 2021 also represented a 10% increase when compared to the same month in 2019 and, according to the regulator, the Superintendency of Gambling Casinos (SCJ), they are 4.5 times higher than the ones from 2020.
Revenues from 2021 are approximately 65% of what the industry experienced in 2019. However, the trend from the last quarter of the year makes it clear that Chilean casinos are no longer recovering, as they are competing and surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
Taking into account the $66.4m in gross income from October ($38.7m in 2019), which was the best month since casinos started operating in 2008, the $53.8m from November ($42.7m in 2019) and the $53.8m in December ($47.4m in 2019), revenues in the last quarter totaled $174.1m, approximately half of what was generated throughout the entire year and $48.9m more than in 2019.
On the flip side, the number of visitors in 2021 declined from 2019, as 2.4 million people entered operating casinos, around 39% of the total number two years before. Additionally, although December 2021 was overall a good month for the 26 casinos, 462k people entered the facilities, around 76% of the same month in 2019 and indicating that average spending was higher.
In regards to taxes, the casinos contributed $17.1m in December, exceeding the handout from November and raising the total for the year to $108.4m.
“It should be noted that due to Covid-19, casinos operated with interruptions during the first half of the year and resumed stability between July and October, depending on the health situation of each commune, and starting continuous operations from that month,” said the SCJ.
As in November, the Valparaíso region was the one with the best results in December 2021, and Sun Monticello in O’Higgins was the casino that contributed the highest taxes ($4.6m). Furthermore, Enjoy Viña Del Mar and Enjoy Santiago from Valparaíso, registered $1.8m and $1.4m in taxes, respectively.
