Macau’s Gaming Revenues Tumble 80 Percent in March, Hit by Coronavirus

Elderly French Woman Finds 13th-Century Painting in Her Kitchen Worth Over $26 Million

For an elderly woman from Compi猫gne, northern France, an appraisal of her home unveiled far more than cobweb-covered books and packed-up, useless clutter. The woman soon learned that she was in possession of a rare 13th-century painting hanging above her kitchen hot plate. The work of art went on to fetch a jaw-dropping sum of money at auction. The French government, however, has since blocked the winning bidder from exporting the painting overseas in the hope that it can be procured for the country’s national collection. Cimabue’s “Christ Mocked” as photographed in Paris ahead of the Senlis art auction on Oct. 27, 2019 (漏Getty Images | PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP)The elderly woman, who was in her nineties and whose name was not revealed to the news media, found the painting in summer…

HONG KONG—Gambling revenue in Macau plunged 79.7 percent in March on the year, the government said on April 1, as casinos reeled from a lack of visitors after the world’s biggest casino hub ratcheted up curbs to battle a coronavirus pandemic.

Operators Wynn Macau, Sands China, MGM China, Melco Resorts, SJM Holdings, and Galaxy Entertainment are all bleeding between $1.5 million and $4 million a day to keep their properties running.

The March figure of 5.3 billion patacas ($664 million), announced on the website of the gaming regulator, was in line with analyst expectations for a drop of about 80 percent to 82 percent, however.

“Forecasts for 2020 remain largely guesses at this time, with constantly changing conditions altering expectations on an almost daily basis,” said Vitaly Umansky, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in Hong Kong, who had forecast the March range.

Last week, the Chinese special administrative region banned entry by visitors from mainland China, neighboring Hong Kong and Taiwan who have travelled overseas, following earlier bans on foreign visitors and non-resident workers.

Visitors from the Greater China region account for more than 90 percent of tourists to Macau. Although casinos were open throughout March after a two-week suspension of operations in February, visit and health restrictions hit revenues, say analysts.

Many expect revenues to keep falling at the same pace, with some even forecasting almost no revenue while the curbs stay.

Macau said it expects a drop of 56 percent in annual gross gaming revenue this year to 130 billion patacas ($16.3 billion), down from 260 billion patacas forecast last year.

Macau earns more than 80 percent of its revenues from casinos.

By Farah Master

This article is from the Internet:Macau’s Gaming Revenues Tumble 80 Percent in March, Hit by Coronavirus

NGO Urges Adoption of New ‘Pandemic Paradigm’ for COVID-19 Vaccine Development

Researchers at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI), an international nongovernmental organization, are calling for a new model of vaccine development for pandemics. The team argues in a聽paper published聽on March 30 in the New England Journal of Medicine that overlapping otherwise linear stages of vaccine development and investing early in manufacturing capacity can bring pandemic vaccines to market faster and blunt the impact of a major outbreak like COVID-19. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus due to the regime’s initial coverup and mishandling of the outbreak, contributing to its widescale spread. “Vaccine development is a lengthy, expensive process. Attrition is high, and it typically takes multiple candidates and many years to produce a licensed vaccine,” the CEPI…