The Macau government collected in October just below MOP1.21 billion (US$150.4 million) in fiscal revenue from direct taxes on gaming, according to the latest data released on Monday by the city’s Financial Services Bureau. That was up 31.7 percent from the MOP915.8 million collected in September.
The government collected nearly MOP16.33 billion in revenue in direct taxes on gaming in the first 10 months of this year. The aggregate take for the January to October period was down 44.7 percent year-on-year.
Macau charges an effective tax rate of 39 percent on casino gross gaming revenue (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.
Macau’s September casino GGR – on which the October tax was levied – rose by 35.3 percent month-on-month, to MOP2.96 billion from August’s nearly MOP2.19 billion, according to official data.
The Macau government revised recently its budget plan for 2022, lowering its forecast for gaming tax for the full year to MOP34.37 billion, from a previous forecast of about MOP49.76 billion. The take by October-end represents just 47.5 percent of the revised figure.
