The Macau authorities have halved their forecast for the city’s casino GGR in full-year 2020 to US$16.3 billion, due to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the local economy, in particular the gaming industry.
The government taxes the GGR of Macau casinos at a rate of 35%, but other levies on the casino gaming gross raise the tax rate to 39% in effect. Other taxes on the Macau gambling sector include levies on the income of Chinese traditional lotteries, on horse racing and instant lotteries, and tax on commissions earned by operators of gambling junkets.
The Macau government collected just over US$2.3 billion in tax revenue from the city’s gaming industry in the first three months of this year. The figure was down 37.6% compared to the prior-year period, showed official data published in late April.
Fitch Ratings Inc said in a recent report that it expected Macau to experience a “much deeper” economic contraction in 2020 than other ‘AA’ -rated peers “whose economies are less dependent on tourism.”
Source: GGR Asia
