The government for Macau has reportedly announced that the amount of tax it collected over the course of the first four months of 2019 directly from gaming operations had risen by some 4.4% year-on-year to reach slightly over $4.87 billion.

Ahead of schedule:

According to a Tuesday report citing official data from the city’s Financial Services Bureau, the most recent tally is appreciably higher than the $4.62 billion recorded for the same four-month period last year and represents some 40.1% of the total amount the government had earlier predicted it would collect from taxing the gaming industry in 2019.

GGRAsia reported that Macau had previously forecast that it would bring in almost $12.15 billion in taxes from gaming over the course of 2019. However, the latest result now purportedly means that this eventual figure could grow by a further 38% to top approximately $16.61 billion.

Sector’s significance:

Highlighting the importance of the gaming industry to Macau, the government figures reportedly also show that the sector had accounted for about 90.1% of the just over $5.37 billion in total taxes collected during the four months to the end of April.

Tidy tax:

Macau is home to some of the world’s largest and most famous gambling venues including the iconic Casino Grand Lisboa from SJM Holdings Limited and Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited’s $3.2 billion Studio City Macau. All of these operations are reportedly required to pay a 35% gross gaming revenues tax alongside smaller duties for every live dealer table, gaming machine and VIP room they operate to take the effective rate up to around 39%.

Mounting surplus:

Furthermore, Macau had earlier envisioned amassing a budget surplus for the whole of 2019 of about $2.23 billion. But, the latest figure means that the city of some 653,000 people currently has around $3.59 billion in spare cash to add to last year’s excess of approximately $6.66 billion.