The Macau government collected just above MOP15.12 billion (US$1.87 billion) in fiscal revenue from direct taxes on gaming in the first nine months of this year, according to the latest data released by the city’s Financial Services Bureau.
The aggregate take for the January to September period was down 44.5 percent year-on-year.
In September alone, the government collected MOP915.8 million in revenue from gaming taxes, up 274.7 percent from August’s MOP244.4-million tally.
Macau charges an effective tax rate of 39 percent on casino GGR – with 35 percent via direct government tax, and the remainder via a number of levies to pay for a range of community good causes.
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.
The Macau government revised earlier this year its budget plan for 2022, in order to increase its welfare spending to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the city’s economy.
It also lowered its forecast for gaming tax for the full year to MOP34.37 billion, from a previous forecast of just under MOP49.76 billion. The take for the first nine months of 2022 represents just 44.0 percent of the revised figure.
