Macau's 39 casinos reportedly exceeded $76.82 million in total game taxes for August, totaling just over $2.85 billion over eight months, according to reports.
The August figure represents a 52.4% month-over-month increase, despite Enclave's total gaming revenue falling 94.5% year-over-year to about $166.61 million, according to a report by Inside Asian Gaming citing official data from Enclave's Financial Services Bureau.
Inside Asian Gaming reported that the eight-month game tax total is now down 81.6% from the same period last year, meaning Macau has collected only about 45.6% of its previously estimated $6.26 billion for 2020. Sources said the city of nearly 700,000 people had earlier forecast to collect about $12.29 billion from those tariffs for the year, but added that it had lowered that figure by 49% in May following a slowdown in casino business due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Macau government has maintained a budget surplus of nearly $2.44 billion through the end of August, representing a 49% year-on-year decline and increasing taxes on "other capital gains." The source also said the former Portuguese residence expects to post an annual deficit of $4.88 billion, despite predicting that it will collect $521.2 million in monthly game taxes between now and the end of December.
These venues will have to pay a 35% total game tax with a 35% total game tax on all live dealer tables, game consoles and VIP rooms they operate to raise the effective tax rate to approximately 39%. Those collections reportedly represented 75.3% of the city's tax collection of about $3.79 billion in the last eight months, representing a 65% year-over-year decline in itself.