Macau tax revenues have sharply declined as a result of the coronavirus’ impact on the casino sector. Even if the casinos are hurting, government officials are not keen to give them a break. In a statement issued by Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong, he explained that there is no tax break for the industry expected to be considered.

As part of the statement, the secretary indicated that the local revenue earned from taxes on casino operations through the first two months of this year fell to a record deficit exceeding MOP40 billion ($4.9 billion). This shortfall was a direct result of the casino concessionaires having little to no business, due to Covid-19.

In 2019, he explained that the local government recorded a tax surplus of MOP51.4 billion ($6.42 billion), with MOP82.1 billion ($10.26 billion) in expenses and MOP133 billion ($16.61 billion) in revenue. However, the largest percentage of revenue came directly from gaming taxes collected during the year, coming in at MOP112.7 billion ($14.08 billion).

Those numbers look like a dream now, as the coronavirus virus led to a 15-day shutdown of casino operations during February. January, which already brought some virus caused volume declines, saw the gross gaming revenue dropped by 11.3% in comparison to the same month in 2019. Overall gaming revenue reached MOP22.1 billion ($2.76 billion) with the government collecting tax revenues of MOP8.8 billion ($1.1 billion).