Macau Gaming Tax revenue down 45.9% in September
Macau’s tax revenue from the gaming industry declined 45.9 per cent month-on-month in September, from MOP3.27bn (US$408m) to MOP1.77bn (US$220.5m).
Macau.- Taxes on the gaming industry generated MOP1.77bn (US$220.5m) in revenue for Macau in September, down 45.9 per cent from MOP3.27bn (US$408m) in August.
During the same period, Macau’s GGR was up 32.4 per cent month-on-month and 166 per cent year-on-year, at MOP$5.88bn (US$733m), but it was the second-lowest monthly GGR figure of 2021, after August.
For the first nine months of this year, Macau collected MOP27.23bn in gaming tax revenue, up 16.3 per cent when compared to 2020. Including September, the government has reached 54.5 per cent of the MOP50.01bn it hoped to collect for full-year 2021.
At the end of the past month, Ho Iat Seng, Macau’s chief executive, said Macau would have to revise its budget as gross gaming revenue was impacted by a new outbreak of Covid-19 cases.
The daily average of visitors to Macau during the October Golden Week 2021 was down 93.7 per cent compared with last year. During the festive period, from October 1 to October 7, 8,159 people arrived in Macau. The daily average was 1,166.
Analysts expect increase in gaming taxes in Macau
A panel of gaming analysts, academics and lawyers has predicted there could be an increase in gaming taxes in Macau due to the shortfall in VIP revenue. The discussion came during The Macau Business and Rui Cunha Foundation’s online conference to discuss the revision of the Macau’s gaming laws.
Ben Lee, managing partner of iGamiX Management & Consulting, has previously said Macau could lose 80 per cent of its premium mass business due to the possibility of increased oversight of gaming concessionaires and junket operations.
Alidad Tash, gaming analyst and former gaming executive, said: “I genuinely do not believe the government is going to keep the gaming tax at 34+5 per cent, or 39 per cent.
“I think it’s likely that they will increase it gradually, 2-5 per cent, over a few years, or they will go ahead to take care of that shortfall… as the junkets are basically, slowly diminishing as time goes by.”
