The Macau government collected MOP51.55 billion (US$6.42 billion) in fiscal revenue from taxes on gaming in the first ten months of this year, according to the latest data released on Thursday by the city’s Financial Services Bureau.
The aggregate take for January to October was up 215.7 percent compared with the prior-year period, a time when Covid-19 -associated travel restrictions were still in place, and had a negative impact on the city’s gaming industry.
In October alone this year, the government collected just above MOP5.78 billion in revenue from gaming taxes, down 13.1 percent month-on-month from the September gain via gaming tax.
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.
Macau’s September casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) declined by 13.2 percent month-on-month, to MOP14.94 billion. August GGR result of MOP17.21 billion remains the second-highest monthly tally this year, according to official data.
Under Macau’s new, 10-year gaming concession system that came into effect on January 1, the effective tax on casino GGR is 40 percent.
Macau’s casino GGR for the ten months to October 31 reached MOP148.45 billion, up 315.6 percent from the comparable 2022 period.
According to the government’s budget plan, revenue from gaming taxes should reach just above MOP50.85 billion this year. The take for the first ten months of 2023 represents 101.4 percent of that figure.
