The Macau Financial Services Bureau (FSB) has published some rather interesting figures which state that the casinos and other related businesses in the area managed to contribute to the area’s economy with a total of $9.49 billion in tax only between January and August 2019.
According to FSB, this is an improvement of 1.5 percent compared to the same period last year, meaning that Macau still improves rapidly.
The Gaming Revenue In The Area Has Dropped
The reason why this is somewhat of a surprise is that the gross gaming revenue in the area isn’t as good when compared to the same period last year. In fact, it has dropped by 1.9 percent, making the tax increase even more notable.
The thing is that the numbers of GGR and tax revenue don’t always correlate due to the fact that reports for taxes usually take place later, shifting data and presenting uneven figures.
As everybody in the world knows right now, gambling operations are the basis of the Macau economic activity. In fact, the money that the city earns from all the casinos in it is approximately 89.6 percent of its entire budget.
This also tells us that the gambling industry in Macau didn’t only remain strong but also upgraded in the past couple of years. It was predicted that the city will earn approximately $12.17 billion of the entire year of 2019. The goal is 77.9 percent complete, and there is still a lot of time before Jan. 1, 2020.
So, one of the possible scenarios is that the city will actually manage to earn more money from taxes than they have initially expected.
Macau Is Growing Strong
The fact that the tax revenue is higher than it was a year before is good news not only for the city but also for the gambling industry in Macau. The expected fiscal surplus was $2.23 billion, and the great performance made them see a surplus which hit $472 billion.
However, there are some concerns about the future of Macau, mainly because global events could affect it. First of all, there are huge protests in Hong Kong taking place right now, and many professionals see it as one of the things that affect the number of visitors to Macau. The next big problem is the trade war taking place between the United States and China. Finally, Macau has some regional gambling competitors, but these still don’t pose a serious threat to the city.
Therefore, things are getting better slowly but steadily, but they could turn awry if the three factors listed here develop further. Nevertheless, the officials who run the city want to take some measures against these factors by making Macau open to other types of tourism, rather than just focusing on gambling.
