Gaming tax drops 74% in Jan-Oct period

The SAR government has reaped MOP24.3 billion in gaming taxes from January to October, a sharp drop of 74% from the same period last year, the Financial Services Bureau (DSF) revealed in its up-to-date figures.
Earlier, the authorities had expected about MOP50 billion in gaming taxes for the same reporting period.
In the first 10 months, the receipts from gaming taxes contributed around 67% of the government’s total current revenue of MOP36.1 billion, representing a year-on-year (y-o-y) decline of 66.5%.
The government taxes casinos in Macau for 39% of gaming revenue, including a direct tax of 35% and other types of taxes for social and welfare purposes.
Ever since the resumption of the Individual Visit Scheme for the mainland, gross gaming revenue (GGR) in October exhibited a growth trajectory, picking up 229% from September, according to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
But the recovery did not suffice to offset the overall impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the city’s casino sector. The aggregate GGR from January to October in 2020 shrank by 81.4% y-o-y to MOP45.8 billion.
During the same period, the total public expenditure totalled MOP69.6 billion, up 11.5% y-o-y — in which the expenses spent on transfer, funding and subsidies amount to the largest share, or MOP45.3 billion. Such a climb was attributed to a series of stimuli rolled out by the government to boost the faltering economy in the wake of the pandemic.
Earlier, the Legislative Assembly approved the 2021 government budget, which is set to inject an extra MOP26.6 billion from the financial reserve to fill the void in the context of the public administration deficit.
In next year’s budget bill, authorities have anticipated that the gaming sector would rake in an annual GGR of MOP130 billion. Staff reporter