The Macau government’s take from taxes on gaming increased by 116.8 percent year-on-year in the first three months of 2024, show provisional data disclosed on Monday by the city’s Financial Services Bureau.
The city collected approximately MOP21.92 billion (US$2.74 billion) in fiscal revenues from taxes on gaming in the first quarter this year. That compares with MOP10.11 billion collected in the same period of 2023, when Macau was starting to reopen its economy following three years of Covid-19-related travel restrictions.
Taxes from gaming brought in 84.2 percent of the Macau government’s total revenue in the three months to March 31, the latter standing at MOP26.04 billion.
In March alone this year, the government collected approximately MOP7.13 billion in revenue from gaming taxes, though the amount was down 4.4 percent month-on-month.
Macau’s aggregate casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the first quarter was MOP57.33 billion, up 65.5 percent from the prior-year period, according to official data from the city’s gaming regulator.
Under Macau’s 10-year gaming concession system that came into effect on January 1 last year, the effective tax on casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) is 40 percent.
The tax-take figures in a given calendar period and the city’s casino GGR in such a time frame are not directly comparable for a number of reasons. They include the fact that there is typically a delay between the point where GGR is recorded in Macau casino operations and the point at which tax is registered by the Macau government as having been paid on such play.
According to the government’s 2024 budget plan, gaming tax revenue is anticipated to reach nearly MOP83.61 billion this year.
In full-year 2023, the Macau authorities collected MOP65.26 billion in revenue from gaming tax, achieving a 28.3-percent surplus in gaming tax revenue budgeted for last year.
The Macau government fiscal surplus for the January-March period this year was nearly MOP7.78 billion, compared to MOP2.30 billion in the initial quarter of 2023.
