The Macau government should consider lowering the tax rate on VIP gaming revenue to ensure Macau’s casino sector remains competitive in Asia, says a local scholar.
The idea is backed by the head of Macau’s Association of Gaming and Entertainment Promoters. Wang Changbin, a scholar at the Gaming Teaching and Research Centre, a unit of the Macao Polytechnic Institute, told GGRAsia that the Macau government should consider lowering the city’s overall gaming tax. In addition, the government should consider imposing different tax rates for, respectively, mass-market gaming revenue and VIP gaming revenue, he added.
“The Macau government could look into Singapore’s model,” Wang told GGRAsia. The city state levies 15 per cent gaming tax on mass-market play and five per cent on VIP play, plus seven per cent Goods and Services Tax in both cases, compared to Macau’s effective tax rate on gross gaming revenue of 39 per cent.
Fitch Ratings said in a note in October 2014 that Singapore’s “accommodating” gaming tax was a positive for the local industry. The ratings house added at the time that the gaming tax system was fixed at current rates until at least 2022.
