Financial Services Bureau of the city of Macau released on 16 November 2023 the data on the financial impact of the Macau gaming industry on the governmental operations. According to the Bureau, the Macau government collected MOP51.55 billion (US$6.42 billion) in gaming tax revenues from January through October 2023, GGRAsia reports.

US$ 6.42 Billion Tax Revenues:

According to the source, the tax revenue performance for the first ten month of 2023 arrived at the 215.7% higher level than the same period in 2022. As reported, the year 2022 featured the Covid-19 -associated travel restrictions that heavily affected the city’s gaming industry. The growth coincided with the January 8, 2023 opening of the gambling properties after an extended period of closures. The market has taken a giant steps to recover ever since and the rapid growth has been reflected in the both the gross gaming and tax revenues bringing the long-awaited relief to the stakeholders.

October Revenues Decline:

But the recovery pace is still a winding road as the monthly figures go up and down depending on the seasons of customer arrivals from either overseas or mainland China. Therefore the Macau tax administration collected slightly above MOP5.78 billion (US$720 million) in gaming tax revenues in October to record a 13.1 % decline in comparison with the preceding month.

But GGRAsia reports that the revenue figures reached in a month are not directly comparable to the figures reported by the city’s tax authorities for the same month. The discrepancy is reportedly due to the fact that the gross gaming revenues recorded in a month are typically registered in the Macau tax system at a later time when the tax is paid.

Best Annual Performance in August:

For this reason, the Macau’s September gross gaming revenue showed a similar trend in October and September as both months recorded a 13.2 % decline when compered with the preceding month. Therefore the city casinos generated around MOP14.94 billion (US$1.86 billion) in September while the revenue level of MOP17.21 billion (US$2.14 billion) reached in August still represents the second-highest monthly revenue in 2023, according to GGRAsia.

The same source reports that the gross gaming revenue for the ten months to 31 October 2023 reached MOP148.45 billion (US$18.48 billion), which is more than three times higher than the same period in 2022. As a consequence, the respective tax revenues have already arrived  at 101.4% of the MOP50.85 billion (US$6.33 billion) tax revenue figure planned by the Macau government’s for the entire year 2023.

The tax revenue result achieved for the ten months has also been driven by the new gaming tax introduced within the scope of a new 10-year gaming concession system. The regulation having been effective from January 1, 2023  reportedly imposes a 40% tax on gross gaming revenues to record MOP51.55 billion (US$6.42 billion) in gaming tax revenues from January through October 2023.