Macau’s casino taxes see year-on-year rise in first half

The government of the Macao Special Administrative Region has collected USD 1.74 billion in direct gaming taxes in the first half of the year, seeing a remarkable year-on-year rise of 49 percent.

The statistics issued Friday by the Finance Services Bureau (FSB) showed that the gaming taxes accounted for 76.6 percent of the government total revenue in the period.

Macao’s 26 casinos pay 35 percent of their gross receipts as direct tax to the government.

The region, with a population of 580,000, has a 150-year history of gaming industry and is the only part of China where casino gaming is legitimate.