The Macau government’s income from gaming taxes jumped by almost 58 percent year-on-year in the first seven months of 2024, to almost MOP51.6 billion ($6.4 billion), as the SAR’s economy continued its post-COVID economic recovery.
According to budget execution rate information published by the city’s financial department, the boost in gaming taxes helped Macau’s government revenue increase by 49.7 percent, to MOP61.1 billion ($7.5 billion), the highest value since 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gross gaming revenue jumped by 36.7 percent year-on-year to some MOP132.2 billion ($16.4 billion) between January and July of this year.
Under Macau’s 10-year gaming concession system, which took effect in January last year, the effective tax on casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) is 40 percent.
In the first seven months of 2024, Macau collected 60 percent of the current revenue projected for 2024 in the region’s budget, which is MOP102 billion ($12.7 billion).
With the increase in revenue, public spending also increased by 9.6 percent, to MOP52.2 billion ($6.5 billion), although infrastructure investment only grew by 1.1 percent to MOP9.69 billion ($1.2 billion).
Current expenditure rose much more, by 10.2 percent, to MOP41.9 billion ($5.2 billion), due to an 11.7 percent increase in social support and subsidies to the population and a 4.4 percent increase in civil servant expenses.
Macau’s 2024 budget foresees the return of surpluses in public accounts, “without the need to use the financial reserve,” after three years of economic crisis due to COVID-19.
Between January and July, the city had a surplus of MOP9.27 billion ($1.2 billion) in public accounts, more than double the figure recorded in the same period of 2023.
