Macau Jan gaming tax take US$402mln, down 63 pct

Mar 03, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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The Macau government collected nearly MOP3.21 billion (US$402.1 million) in tax revenue from the city’s gaming industry for the first month in 2021. That figure was down 63.6 percent compared from the prior-year period, according to the latest official data released by Financial Services Bureau.

The Macau government expected to collect nearly MOP50.01 billion in taxes from the city’s gaming industry for the full year 2021, according to its budget plan for the current fiscal year.

The government taxes the gross gaming revenue (GGR) of Macau casinos at a rate of 35 percent, but other levies on casino gaming gross raise the tax rate to 39 percent in effect. Other taxes on the Macau gambling sector include levies on the income of Chinese traditional lotteries, on horse racing, and on instant lotteries. There is also tax on commissions earned by operators of gambling junkets.

Macau’s tax-take figures in a given calendar period, and the city’s casino GGR in such a time frame, are not directly comparable for a number of reasons. They include the fact that there is typically a delay between the point where GGR is recorded in Macau casino operations, and the point at which tax is registered by the Macau government as having been paid on such play.

Macau’s casino GGR for January was just above MOP8.02 billion, up by 2.6 percent sequentially but was down by 63.7 percent from the prior-year period.

The Macau government has collected nearly MOP29.81 billion in tax revenue from the gaming industry in full-year 2020, down 73.6 percent year-on-year as the city’s gaming and tourism trade saw damages wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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