Macau's 30 casinos generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) of 21.193 billion patacas last month, a year-on-year growth of 5.0 percent, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) announced today.
Month-on-month, GGR in May grew by 12.4 percent from the 18.858 billion patacas recorded in April. In the first five months, GGR increased by 1.7 percent year-on-year to 97.707 billion patacas. May generated the gaming industry’s highest monthly GGR so far this year.
Macau’s government-concessioned gaming industry is run by six rival integrated resort (IR) operators: Sands, Galaxy, SJM, Melco, Wynn, and MGM. Under their concession agreements with the government, the IR operators are required to strengthen their non-gaming attractions and support Macau’s cultural heritage promotion and old-quarter renewal projects. The operators pay 35 percent of their GGR as direct gaming tax to the government, in addition to an additional 5.0 percent in levies for funding a range of public causes. However, the gaming law, amended in 2022, allows the government to lower the additional levies (officially termed "contributions") for various reasons, such as when operators expand their foreign client markets or face unforeseen adverse developments affecting their business operations.
In the first quarter of this year, according to the latest available official gaming statistics, baccarat generated 84.6 percent of local casinos' GGR among their 16 games of chance. Gaming machines produced 5.6 percent of GGR in the first three months, while roulette, Europe's classic game of chance, generated a mere 0.53 percent.
Meanwhile, according to the latest available data from the Financial Services Bureau (DSF), tax receipts from the six gaming concessionaires reached 29.839 billion patacas in the first four months of the year, an increase of 0.06 percent year-on-year. Gaming tax receipts accounted for 86.8 percent of the government’s total revenue (current + capital receipts) between January and April.
