Macau gaming tax revenue up 29.9% in October

Macau’s tax revenue from the gaming industry was up 29.9 per cent month-on-month in October, from MOP1.77bn (US$220.5m) to MOP2.30bn (US$287.2m).

Macau.- Taxes on the gaming industry generated MOP2.30bn (US$287.2m) in revenue for Macau in October, up 29.9 per cent from the figure registered in September. Macau’s GGR was down 25.8 per cent month-on-month in October and down 40 per cent year-on-year, at MOP4.37bn (US$544m). 

October saw the lowest monthly GGR of 2021, below even August when the city recorded GGR of MOP$4.44bn (US$554.5m). For the first ten months of the year, Macau collected MOP29.54bn in gaming tax revenue, up 21.3 per cent when compared to 2020. The government has reached 59.1 per cent of the MOP50.01bn it hoped to collect for full-year 2021.

At the end of August, 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. Preparing next year’s fiscal budget plan, the government of Macau has predicted that GGR for 2022 will be MOP130bn (US$16.2bn), half that seen before the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the budget plan, the government estimates that gaming tax income will reach MOP45.5bn in 2022. The government said it will use the city’s accumulated fiscal reserves to support expenditure on social welfare and public infrastructure projects.