The Macau SAR Government recently lowered its 2025 gaming tax revenue forecast, reducing the "Special Gaming Tax" from the originally predicted 84 billion Macau patacas to 79.8 billion Macau patacas, a cut of about 5%. This adjustment has been included in the 2025 fiscal budget amendment bill that is about to be submitted to the Legislative Assembly for review, indicating Macau's increasingly cautious outlook on the gaming industry.
Meanwhile, the estimated 3% indirect gaming tax for purposes such as tourism promotion and urban construction has also been lowered from 7.2 billion Macau patacas to 6.84 billion Macau patacas. The 2% gaming surtax for public funds has not yet disclosed any adjustment information. The tax levied on commissions paid by casinos to intermediaries is still estimated to remain at 100 million Macau patacas.
This is another downward adjustment by the Macau government following the reduction of the total annual gaming revenue forecast to 228 billion Macau patacas in June. Deputy Director of the Finance Bureau, He Yanmei, stated that global economic uncertainty and changes in tourist spending patterns are the main reasons, emphasizing that "an increase in tourists to Macau does not imply a simultaneous increase in gaming consumption."
Market analysts generally believe that this series of "technical adjustments" reflects the unstable recovery of Macau's gaming industry, with fiscal revenue still affected by external economic fluctuations. Should the global economic recovery fall short of expectations, the Macau government may need to adopt more stringent fiscal policies. The amendment bill has been submitted to the Legislative Assembly and will undergo final deliberation today.
