In a written reply to a trade group representing Macau junket operators, the local government declined to reduce or otherwise moderate a 5 percent withholding tax on commissions paid to them by casinos.
In February, the Macau Gaming Promoter Professionals Association appealed to the government for some relief on the tax, saying the sector is under enough pressure due to changes in the city’s gaming law. That was a reference to the clampdown on capital flight and corruption in VIP gaming.
The subsequent arrests and convictions of two CEOs of major junket operations have decimated the sector, which has declined from 235 operators eight years ago to 85 in January 2022 to just 36 today.
Macau junket veteran U Io Hung told GGRAsia that Adriano Marques Ho, director of the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) replied that the Macau government “sees no conditions” under which it will alter the tax.
The trade group had asked the government to apply a provision in the law that lets the Macau chief executive exempt up to 2 percentage points from taxation on junket commissions.
U told GGRAsia, “We did not see why this levy on commissions is only imposed on us, but not on the direct VIP,” or VIP gaming arranged directly by casino concessionaires. “That’s unfair competition” against traditional junkets, he said.
