Macau Gambling Tax Recovers in September

Macau’s government has been able to collect a tidy sum from the special administrative region’s casino concessionaires for the month of September. This is owing to both the fact that there has been a relaxation in travel restrictions and because of a tax hike that enabled Macau to gather bigger sums from operators in the city. Operators are keen to maintain their reputation with the regulator as they are currently in the process of submitting requests to extend their operations by another ten years.

Tax Shows Recovery but Still Subdued

As a result, the revenue collected during September reached MOP915.8 million ($113.2 million) or 275% higher than the results reported in August when Macau collected MOP244.4 million ($30.2 million). However, the amount collected this month is still 48.2% below the mark from September 2021. This is an understandable downward trend as the year was permeated by lockdowns, COVID-19 outbreaks, and further restrictions imposed by the mainland.

China has been increasingly vigilant of whether its citizens go to Macau to gamble, and has actively discouraged this behavior, impinging on casinos’ bottom lines in the process. So far in the first nine months of 2022, Macau has been able to collect a total of MOP15.1 billion ($1.87 billion) in taxes.

The figure is down from a year before when Macau collected MOP$27.2 billion ($3.37 billion). This number is below the MOP49.8 billion ($6.16 billion) that the Financial Services Bureau is to be generated in tax on an annual basis, a commitment for which the government holds concessionaires responsible. Macau has urged casinos to seek out overseas gamblers and advertise their products to a high-end clientele from abroad, but this has proven very difficult.

New Realities for the Macau Gaming Industry

Presently, Macau levies its gambling industry with a 35% special gaming tax, that goes straight to the Macau government. All of this comes in the context of transformative changes in Macau as the casinos are trying their best to steer their operations to be aligned with the new government requirements.

Meanwhile, Genting Malaysia has formally launched a bid to be one of the concessionaires in Macau. This is good news for the Special Administrative Region, but this means that the number of bidding companies has suddenly gone to seven, which means that one company will most likely have to bow out of the market if Genting is successful. Qualified as “definitively accepted,” the Macau government is giving Genting Malaysia a chance to enter the new Macau gaming market.