The Macau government collected nearly MOP31.28 billion (US$3.89 billion) in fiscal revenues from direct taxes on gaming between January 1 and November 30, up by 15.1 percent year-on-year, but a smaller amount than it had budgeted for, according to data released on Wednesday by the city’s Financial Services Bureau.
In its annual budget, the government forecast that it would collect just under MOP50.01 billion in direct taxes from gaming in 2021. As of the calendar year to November 30, the execution rate on this item stood at 62.5 percent, according to the latest data from the finance bureau.
Direct taxes from gaming accounted for 66.8 percent of the Macau government’s MOP46.85 billion in total revenue achieved in the first 11 months of 2021.
Aggregate casino GGR in the first 11 months of 2021 stood at MOP78.90 billion, an increase of 49.9 percent on the MOP52.62 billion achieved in the prior-year period.
Macau charges an effective tax rate of 39 percent on casino GGR – 35 percent in direct government tax, and the remainder in a number of levies to pay for a range of community good causes.
In November, the Macau government said it would turn again to its financial reserve to compensate for the lack of tax revenue from the city’s gaming industry. A revised budget proposal provided for an increase of MOP6.34 billion, or about US$790 million, in funds allocated from the financial reserve.
Earlier this month, a number of scholars told GGRAsia that Macau was likely to have an ongoing yearly shortfall in its annual gaming tax income relative to the levels of public spending to which it usually has been pledged, if junket-based VIP gambling no longer made a significant contribution to the city’s coffers.
