According to Macau’s Financial Services Bureau, the Macau government picked up over $8.78 billion in taxes from gaming operations in the city during the first eight months of the year. The return is a nice addition to the city’s coffers and represents a 17% increase year-on-year.

The bureau added that it earned just over $10.53 billion in current revenue from all of the sources for the eight-month period, an increase of 15.3% over last year’s figures. Direct taxes are calculated on taxes on income from gaming and Chinese lotteries, horseracing, greyhound racing, instant lotteries and taxes paid on commissions that are earned by gambling junket promoters.

It’s not cheap to operate a casino in Macau. Gambling operations have to pay a 35% tax on their gross gaming revenue (GGR), but this is increased by 4% as additional taxes are added to the gaming sector. For the first eight months of the year, the GGR total was $25,043 billion, according to the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. This is a 17.5% increase year-on-year.

In total, the Macau government expects GGR for the year to reach more than $28.49 billion and had anticipated picking up around $10.21 billion from direct gaming taxes. By the end of August, it had already collected 86% of that amount. Government officials in the city typically underestimate tax amounts, remaining cautious about gambling performance.