Macau gaming tax revenue up 31.7% in October

The government has collected MOP1.21bn (US$150.4m) in fiscal revenue from direct taxes on gaming.

Macau.- The Financial Services Bureau has reported that Macau collected MOP1.21bn (US$150.4m) in fiscal revenue from direct taxes on gaming in October. The figure was up 31.7 per cent when compared to the previous month.

Macau’s gross gaming revenue in September – on which the October tax was levied – was up 35.3 per cent month-on-month from MOP2.19bn (US$270.8m) to MOP2.96bn (US$366.3m).

The tax take for the first ten months of 2022 was MOP16.3bn, a drop of 44.7 per cent year-on-year. Macau taxes casino GGR at 39 per cent: 35 per cent in direct government taxes and the remainder from community levies. The Macau government’s budget plan for 2022 forecast gaming tax of MOP34.37bn for the full year. 

Macau GDP down 33.4% for Q3

Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the third quarter of the year was down by 33.4 per cent year-on-year. That’s a slight improvement on a 39.3 per cent decline in the second quarter.

Exports of services declined by 46.7 per cent year-on-year, while exports of gaming services and other tourism services by 72.5 per cent and 45.9 per cent respectively. The number of visitor arrivals to Macau fell by 50.8 per cent year-on-year, affecting tourism, mainly due to a new outbreak of Covid-19 cases that led to a temporary closure of casinos.

Because of a drop in gross fixed capital formation and private consumption expenditure, domestic demand declined by 14.2 per cent. The implicit deflator of GDP, which measures the overall changes in prices, fell by 1.1 per cent year-on-year.