The Macau government says it collected more than MOP70.86 billion (US$8.78 billion) in direct taxes on gaming in the city in the first eight months of this year – a 17-percent increase over the corresponding period last year.
The most up-to-date figures released by the Financial Services Bureau show the government collected more than MOP85.07 billion in current revenue from all sources in the first eight months of the year, 15.3 percent more than a year earlier. Direct taxes on gaming include taxes on income from gaming and from Chinese lotteries, greyhound racing, horse racing and instant lotteries, and tax on commissions earned by promoters of gambling junkets.
The government taxes the gross gaming revenue (GGR) of the casinos in Macau at the ostensible rate of 35 percent, but other levies on the gaming sector make the effective rate of tax 39 percent.
GGR in Macau amounted to MOP202.1 billion in the first eight months of this year, 17.5 percent more than a year earlier, figures given by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau indicate.
The government forecasts that GGR will be MOP230 billion this year. The authorities have budgeted for revenue of nearly MOP82.41 billion from direct taxes on gaming this year, and had collected 86 percent of that sum by the end of August. In compiling its budgets, the government is cautious about revenue from gaming, tending to underestimate revenue from taxes and other levies on the business.
