Macau’s Gambling Tax Revenue Bounces Back: $3.3 Billion in Six Months

The Macau government reported that the province collected $3.3 billion in tax revenue from the gambling business in the first six months of 2023. That’s a 107% increase from the same period last year.

Tax revenue from the gambling business for the first six months makes up 52.7% of Macau’s $6.3 billion budget for the 2023 fiscal year.

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a heavy blow to the region, which used to be one of the main gambling hubs in South Asia, as its main revenue came from tourists from China and Hong Kong.

For a long time, tourists couldn’t enter Macau, which drastically cut down the gross income from the gambling business in the region. But things changed with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, which happened in January 2023.

Since then, the industry’s indicators have been improving, as shown by the data from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau of Macau, which shows that gross gaming revenue (GGR) is steadily rising, reaching $1.82 billion in April and $1.93 billion in May.