Direct
taxes from gaming brought in 84.5 % of the Macau government’s total revenue in
the first three months of 2017. Macau’s casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) rose
13.0 % year-on-year in the first quarter of 2017, to US$ 7.7 billion, according
to data from the local regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination
Bureau.
Macau
levies an effective tax rate of 39 % on casino GGR – 35 % in direct government
tax, and the remainder in a number of levies to pay for a range of community
good causes.
Macau’s
Chief Executive, Fernando Chui Sai On, forecast in November that the city’s
2017 casino GGR would total US$ 24 billion. That is the same number the
government gave as an estimate for 2016 casino GGR. The latter forecast
undershot by 11.6 %, as the year’s final tally amounted to US$ 27.25 billion.
The
government has said it expects to collect a total of US$ 22.65 billion in
fiscal revenue from direct taxes on gaming this year. That would represent 79.1
% of the US$ 11.05 billion public revenue currently being forecast for the
city.
Source: GMB / GGR Asia