Good news for pachinko halls recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. July sales reached JPY232.89 billion (US$2.20 billion), equal to 78.8 percent of sales in July last year, according to the Statistics Survey on Specific Service Industries conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
The figures point to an ongoing recovery trend after May 2020 pachinko sales decreased to JPY66.58 billion, or around 22.5 percent of the corresponding month in 2019. June increased to 68.7 percent of June 2019 levels.
Still, year-over-year sales have declined for 13 consecutive months, long before the pandemic added to the industry’s woes.
While some players have returned following the pandemic, an executive of a pachinko chain operating multiple outlets in Tokyo told IAG, “Customers aren’t all returning, making things tough. There’s nothing we can do.”
Yet, some days more than 2,000 patrons visited popular halls, perhaps an indication that the gap between pachinko halls themselves is widening.
The survey targeted companies with the highest sales, covering about 70 percent of the annual sales in the industry, but did not report results from all pachinko hall operators. As such, the numbers differ significantly from the actual sales of the entire industry. Of the 30 percent with the lowest sales not participating in the survey, many of these companies went bankrupt due to poor sales or closed their doors due to a decrease in operations, so the actual rate of sales declines for the entire industry may be even greater.
In other Pan Asian news, SkyCity Auckland was allowed to do business without any Covid-19 related restrictions such as social distancing or limitations on the size of gatherings, the company announced.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said October 5 that Auckland no longer needed to operate under special measures. “There is now a 95 percent probability of the cluster being eliminated,” she said at a news conference. “Covid-19 will be with us for many months to come. But we should still mark these milestones.”
After the coronavirus pandemic was brought under control in early summer, Auckland saw a second outbreak in early August which forced SkyCity to again close down. On August 31, the casino resumed operations under social distancing and other restrictions, according to Asian Gaming Brief.
The firm’s Hamilton and Queenstown locations have had no restrictions since September 22.
