Macau Casino Tax Revenue Totals $1.73B January Through July 2022, Down 37 Percent

August 26, 2022 Macau Earnings & Filings Industry Updates

Macau casino tax receipts through seven months of 2022 totaled MOP13.96 billion (US$1.73 billion), a more than 37% year-over-year decline.

Macau’s six casino operators saw a slight recovery initiate in 2021 after the pandemic’s most limiting year in 2020. But China and Macau’s maintaining of “zero-COVID,” a policy that prompts restrictive measures in response to even small coronavirus outbreaks, has resulted in a gaming revenue retraction in 2022.

Outbreaks on the mainland this year have greatly limited travel across the People’s Republic. And ongoing quarantine requirements in Macau,
which were only recently eased, kept the enclave’s casino resorts barren of guests throughout much of the year.

As a result, gaming has again tumbled. Through seven months, gross gaming revenue (GGR) in Macau is down over $18.2 billion from where the industry stood at this time last year. Macau’s government is also suffering along with the casinos, as its tax benefit has dropped by almost $4.5 billion from 2021.

The tax data comes this week from Macau’s Financial Services Bureau.

Government Taps Reserves
Casinos are the backbone of the Macau economy. With gaming nearly non-existent, at least by the market’s standards, the enclave’s government has been forced to rethink its expenditures.

The Financial Services Bureau says total tax revenue between January through July totaled $2.6 billion, meaning gaming accounted for about 66% of the government’s 2022 funding. But the $2.6 billion covers just 44% of the special administrative region’s nearly $6 billion in expenditures this year.

Macau, one of the world’s richest economies prior to the pandemic, has decided to dip into its financial reserves to bridge the roughly $3.4 billion spending gap. Government officials say the region still maintains a $1.25 billion reserve following the distribution.