Macau's 30 casinos generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) of 21.06 billion patacas (US$2.60 billion) last month, representing a year-on-year growth of 19.0 percent, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) has announced today.
However, month-on-month, GGR in June dipped by 0.6 percent from the 21.19 billion patacas recorded in May. June marked Macau’s second-highest GGR so far this year and produced the highest year-on-year growth rate in the first six months. Only in May and June did local casinos’ GGR exceed 21 billion patacas. In the first half of the year, GGR rose by 4.9 percent year-on-year to 118.77 billion patacas.
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 37.104 billion patacas in the first five months of the year, an increase of 0.25 percent year-on-year. Gaming tax receipts accounted for 85.6 percent of the government’s total revenue (current + capital receipts) between January and May.
