Macau records 38% drop in gaming tax revenue

The Macau SAR government recorded a total of 18.48 billion patacas ($2.3 billion) in gaming tax revenue during the first quarter of the year, down 37.6% year-on-year.
According to data issued by the Financial Services Bureau, the government collected only 1.25 billion patacas in direct tax. This is significantly lower than the previously announced 2020 budget estimate, which forecasted the collection of at least 8.18 billion patacas per month in gaming tax, or nearly 100 billion patacas in total for the whole year.
The government taxes the gross gaming revenue of Macau casinos at a total rate of 39%, including other levies on the revenue.
However, the outbreak of Covid-19 has caused business in the gaming sector to suffer.
First quarter gaming tax will have been buttressed by the relatively strong posting in January, when the coronavirus epidemic was still developing on the mainland. Revenue that month reached 22.1 billion patacas, down just 11.3% in year-on-year terms.
Macau gross gaming revenue dropped in March for the sixth consecutive month, down nearly 80% from a year earlier. Revenue was 5.26 billion patacas last month as casinos were slammed again by new border restrictions introduced in China, which kept gamblers away.
First quarter gross gaming revenue is down 60% in year-on-year terms at 30.4 billion patacas.
As previously announced by the Secretary for Finance and Economy Lei Wai Nong, the government has cut its 2020 forecast for gross gaming revenue to 130 billion patacas, half the initial projection of 260 billion patacas. LV