The Macau government received around MOP$6 billion (approx. US$746 million) in taxes from gaming properties in June this year, significantly up from May and the highest since the Chinese SAR’s borders reopened on January 8, 2023. According to data published by the Macau government’s Financial Services Bureau (FSB), the Macau government accumulated MOP$26.8 billion (US$3.33 billion) in tax revenue from gaming properties during the first half (H1) of 2023. The strong tax figure for the H1 was assisted by a robust result in June, when tax revenue improved from May’s figure of MOP$5.7 billion (US$708 million).

The figure reported for the H1 period of this year represents a growth of 107 per cent year-over-year. In the H1 period of last year, the exchequer had received MOP$12.94 billion (approx. US$1.61 billion). Additionally, gaming tax profits during the H1 of this year represent 52.7 per cent of the Macau government’s FY23 budget of MOP$50.85 billion (US$6.30 billion).

The total income accumulated by the government during last month was MOP$33.3 billion (roughly US$4.14 billion), which makes the gaming tax figure to account for 80.5 per cent of Macau-wide revenue. The Chinese SAR reportedly generated MOP$5.5 billion (roughly US$681 million) in gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the first eleven days of last month, up from US$62 million per day. It was significantly up from a recent average of US$56 million.

It is worth-noting here that Macau was the leading casino hub before the COVID-19 pandemic. For a very long time, gambling enthusiasts from mainland China and other countries were not able to enter the casino hub, which dragged the casino industry’s gross gaming revenue to a record low. The Chinese SAR had to struggle a lot to return to normal operations and profitability.

JP Morgan analyst DS Kim said, “The changes were incrementally positive and we wouldn’t be surprised if full recovery (mass/non-gaming GGR going back to 2019 levels) happens sometime in 2H23, much earlier than our current model of mid-2024.”

The situation started to change earlier this year with the easing of the COVID-19 measures. Since then, the Chinese SAR’s casino industry’s performance has been enjoying improvement.

The Gaming Inspection & Coordination Bureau also noted that GGR has been steadily increasing, reaching MOP$14.72 (US$1.82 billion) and MOP$15.57 billion (US$1.93 billion) in the months of April and May, respectively.