The Macau SAR Government collected around MOP$935.4 million (US$117.1 million) in gaming taxes in October, a 54.8% increase over the MOP$604.2 million (US$75.6 million) collected in September but still leaving it well below budget.
According to figures published by the Financial Services Bureau on Wednesday, gaming tax for the first 10 months of the year amounted to MOP$24.35 billion (US$3.05 billion) – up from the MOP$23.41 billion (US$2.93 billion) it had collected as of the previous month.
Despite the improvement, which reflects rising revenues for Macau’s gaming concessionaires following the easing of border restrictions with mainland China and the resumption of the Individual Visit Scheme from 23 September, the government has collected just 48.7% of the MOP$49.98 billion (US$6.26 billion) it had planned for at this stage under a revised budget outlined earlier this year. The pre-COVID budget for 2020 had originally been set at MOP$98.22 billion (US$12.30 billion).
Gaming taxes through October are barely a quarter of the MOP$94.04 billion (US$11.77 billion) collected over the same period in 2019.
Despite this, the government has still recorded a surplus of MOP$11.20 billion (US$1.40 billion) over the first 10 months of 2020, down from a surplus of MOP$48.0 billion (US$6.01 billion) at the same time last year.
Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau recently reported a 72.5% year-on-year decline in gross gaming revenue in October to MOP$7.27 billion (US$911 million), significantly improved after six months of GGR declines of over 90%.
