Gambling taxes account 78 percent of Macau revenues

A new report reveals that gambling taxes are one of the main incomes of revenue of Macau’s government.

Macau.- The Financial Services Bureau of Macau announced that they collected US$9.1 billion from gambling taxes during the first eleven months of 2016. The numbers accounted 77.8 percent of all local government revenues.

Even though the number is significantly big, it was still 7.4 percent lower compared to the same period in 2015. Total government revenues excluded from autonomous bodies also fell 8.9 percent from January to November to US$11.7 billion. Macau Business Daily reported that other taxes amounted only US$1 billion, a 7.9 percent decrease year-on-year.

On December, the Macau Association of Gaming and Entertainment Promoters announced that they set up a central credit database system that can track the gambling credit issued to players by the local junket sector. Association president Kwok Chi Chung said that they’re waiting for the government to approve the system, and that one of the biggest reasons they believe in the junket credit database is because it helps gaming promoters to identify VIP players with a big debt related to other junkets in the same city.