The bureau added that it earned just over US$10.53 billion in current revenue from all of the sources for the eight-month period, an increase of 15.3% over last year’s figures. Direct taxes are calculated on taxes on income from gaming and Chinese lotteries, horseracing, greyhound racing, instant lotteries and taxes paid on commissions that are earned by gambling junket promoters.
It’s not cheap to operate a casino in Macau. Gambling operations have to pay a 35% tax on their gross gaming revenue (GGR), but this is increased by 4% as additional taxes are added to the gaming sector. For the first eight months of the 2018, the GGR total was US$25,043 billion, according to the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ). This is a 17.5% increase year-on-year.
In total, the Macau government expects GGR for the year to reach more than US$28.49 billion and had anticipated picking up around US$10.21 billion from direct gaming taxes. By the end of August, it had already collected 86% of that amount. Government officials in the city typically underestimate tax amounts, remaining cautious about gambling performance.
The odds are good that Macau will see the revenue it expects. Despite last month’s typhoon that rolled through Asia, September GGR increased for the month. It rose to US$2.72 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.8% over the US$2.66 billion it took in last year. However, this was well below the amount previously forecast by analysts, who had predicted as much as a 20% gain.
Source: GMB / Calvin Ayre
