The tally of approved tax relief granted by the Macau government to the city’s casino operators as a result of gambling by customers from overseas, went up in 2024 compared to a year earlier.
The information was based on a written reply from the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) in response to a question from local legislator Lei Chan U, who had asked about the city’s work to expand its international-tourism segment. The news was first reported by Macau News Agency.
The written reply carrying the date February 21 was made public this week. It did not mention the total amount of tax rebates granted or whether all six of the city’s gaming operators had applied for such relief.
Amid the rejig of the local regulatory framework leading up to Macau’s fresh 10-year gaming concessions starting in January 2023, the government had said it might approve an up to 5-percentage-point rebate on Macau’s 40-percent tax on gross gaming revenue (GGR), for play generated by overseas players using specially-designated zones of gaming facilities. But operators would have to apply for such relief.
According to Financial Services Bureau data, the Macau government collected nearly MOP88.13 billion (US$11.01 billion) in fiscal revenue from gaming taxes in 2024, marking a 35.0-percent year-on-year increase.
Macau casino GGR for calendar year 2024 stood at MOP226.78 billion, up 23.9 percent year-on-year, according to official data.
As per the government’s 2025 budget plan, revenue from gaming taxes is anticipated to reach nearly MOP93.12 billion this year, though no mention was made of any provision for rebates on the 40 percent rate on GGR.
Full-year 2024 tourism data issued in January, showed the aggregate of overseas visitors to Macau went up 66.0 percent year-on-year, to just over 2.42 million. That was a 79.0 percent recovery on 2019’s nearly 3.07 million overseas visitors.
The tally of people arriving from overseas that then go to gamble in Macau casinos is not recorded in any publicly-available data.
But a desire to boost play from overseas has been mentioned as a Macau government policy aim, and the tax rebate was mentioned as part of that effort.
As of April 2023, the authorities confirmed that all six operators already had specially-designated foreigner-only betting areas in Macau properties.
As of June 2023, the government had mentioned that none of those operators had applied for a GGR tax rebate on any foreigner-generated play.
At an investor event in March last year, Bill Hornbuckle, chief executive and president of MGM Resorts International, the parent of Macau operator MGM China Holdings Ltd, indicated that players from overseas that visit Macau casinos did not like to be put in rooms specially-designated for them.
