Macau’s 2020 budget relies on casino revenues

The Legislative Assembly presented the forecast for next year and the biggest peace of the cake will be related to gaming activities.

Macau.- The Legislative Assembly passed the government’s 2020 budget bill, and it seems Macau economy will continue relying on casino revenues. According to the bill, the government expects a total expenditure of 100.69 billion patacas next year (€11.2 billion), 2.65 billion (€296 million) less than this year’s budget, down 2.6 per cent.

Government also expects receipts of 122.7 billion patacas (€13.7 billion) next year, up 0.3 per cent more than this year. As a result, the bill expects a surplus of 22 billion patacas (€2.4 billion) next year. Revenues from direct gaming taxes would reach up to 91 billion patacas (€10 billion) next year, the same as the amount budgeted for this year, which represent around 74.5 percent of total tax revenue in 2020.

Macau’s casino operators pay 35 percent of their gross gaming revenues as direct tax to the government.

The 2020 budget bill and its passage by lawmakers was introduced to the Assembly just before the launching of the new government, which will be sworn in on Friday. The forecast will be reviewed and the bill should be presented again, in March 2020.