Macau gaming tax revenue down 44.2% for first eight months

The government has collected just under MOP14.51bn in direct taxes on gaming.

Macau.- The Financial Services Bureau has reported that Macau collected MOP244.4m (US$30.2m) in fiscal revenue from direct taxes on gaming in August. That takes the total for the first eight months of 2022 to just under MOP14.51bn, down 44.2 per cent year-on-year.

Authorities have revised their forecast for gaming taxes for the full year from just under MOP49.76bn to MOP34.37bn. To date, the city has reached just 41.3 per cent of the revised figure. August’s gaming tax figure was expected to be low since July’s casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) was the lowest since records began 2003.

Macau casino floors were closed for two weeks in July and reopened with limited staffing on July 25, due to a Covid-19 outbreak. June’s GGR had already been hurt by the outbreak of Covid-19 cases, which began on June 18. 

Macau taxes casino GGR at 39 per cent: 35 per cent in direct government taxes and the remainder from community levies. 

Macau GGR could be down 80 per cent from pre-pandemic levels in September

Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd have predicted that further travel restrictions in China could cause Macau’s GGR to come in at 80 per cent under pre-pandemic levels in September. Daily GGR between September 13 to 18 was MOP75m, down 20 per cent when compared to the previous week, when the city recorded an average daily rate of MOP94m.

According to analysts, the near-term GGR recovery will be difficult as the Chinese government continues to impose strict travel policies on long-distance travel due to ongoing outbreaks of Covid-19. Bernstein noted that while daily cases have declined overall, Guizhou has seen a recent uptick and other regions continue to have small outbreaks of Covid-19.