Gaming activity in Macau may have slipped in the first quarter of the year, but tax revenue didn’t. According to the Financial Services Bureau, the city collected over $3.67 million in revenue thanks to the gaming industry in the quarter, an increase of 6.1% over the same period last year.

It’s common for there to be a discrepancy in the gaming revenue and the gaming tax revenue in a given quarter. There is often a delay between the recording of gross gaming revenue (GGR) and the recording of tax revenue on that GGR.

Gaming still accounts for the majority of the tax revenue in the city. So far this year, gamblers have provided 87.6% of the $4.18 billion the city has taken in across the board and, as is expected, this trend will continue throughout the year.

GGR for the quarter slipped 0.5% year-on-year, coming in at $9.42 billion. January saw the first decline in GGR since 2016, but March also recorded the second monthly drop of the year. GGR is taxed at 35%, but additional taxes are added that make the effective tax rate 39%. The gaming sector covers casinos, instant and Chinese lotteries, horse races and commissions that promoters of gambling junkets earn.