The Macao government has collected gaming taxes totalling 45.8 billion patacas for the first nine months of this year, according to official figures.
The sum represents an increase of 203 percent compared to the corresponding period in 2022, when closed borders and other pandemic restrictions saw revenue nosedive to just 15.1 billion patacas.
So far this year, gaming revenue has accounted for almost 80 percent of the government’s total current earnings of 57.5 billion patacas.
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Other important sources of revenue include direct and indirect taxes, which have respectively contributed 5.8 and 2.5 billion patacas to the treasury so far in 2023.
According to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, accumulated gaming revenue for the year stood at 128.95 billion patacas in September, compared to 31.81 billion patacas in the same period last year.
Macao’s economy and revenue stream has been gradually recovering since the dismantling of the zero-Covid policy. However it has yet to reach the pre-pandemic numbers of 2019.
—With reporting by Kenny Fong
