GGRAsia – Macau 1Q gaming tax take US$1.15 bln, down 50pct

Macau 1Q gaming tax take US$1.15 bln, down 50pct

Apr 15, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

The Macau government collected just above MOP9.17 billion (US$1.15 billion) in tax revenue from the city’s gaming industry for the first three months of 2021. That figure was down 50.4 percent from the prior-year period, according to the latest official data released by the Financial Services Bureau.

Judged month-on-month, the tax take was down 8.4 percent to MOP2.85 billion in March, from MOP3.11 billion in February.

The Macau government expected to collect nearly MOP50.01 billion in taxes from the city’s gaming industry in full-year 2021, according to its budget plan for the current fiscal year.

The government taxes the gross gaming revenue (GGR) of Macau casinos at a rate of 35 percent, but other levies on casino gaming gross raise the tax rate to 39 percent in effect.

Other taxes on the Macau gambling sector include levies on the income of Chinese traditional lotteries, on horse racing, and on instant lotteries. There is also tax on commissions earned by operators of gambling junkets.

Macau’s 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 casino GGR for March was just under MOP8.31 billion, up 58.0 percent from a year earlier. Aggregate casino GGR in the three months to March 31 stood at MOP23.64 billion, still a decline of 22.5 percent from the nearly MOP30.49 billion recorded in the prior-year period.