Macau, China, Sept. 1, 2025 (Lusa) - August was the second consecutive month in which Macau's casinos recorded their highest revenues since December 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to official figures announced on Monday.
The gambling sector collected 22.2 billion patacas (€2.37 billion) last month, 12.2% more than in the same period in 2023, revealed the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) of the Chinese semi-autonomous region.
The figure recorded in August represents 91.3% of that achieved in the same month of 2019, when Macau's casinos had revenues of 24.3 billion patacas (€2.59 billion).
Since the end of January 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on gambling, the engine of Macau's economy, with taxes on revenue from this industry funding the overwhelming majority of the government budget.
In terms of accumulated gross revenue, the first eight months of 2025 saw a 7.2% increase compared to the same period last year, reaching 163.1 billion patacas (approximately €17.4 billion).
Macau closed 2024 with total revenues of 226.8 billion patacas (approximately €24.5 billion), 23.9% higher than the previous year.
In the initial budget for 2025, the Macau government predicted that the year would close with total revenues of 240 billion patacas (approximately €27.9 billion), representing a 6% increase compared to the previous year.
But on 11 June, the territory's parliament approved a new budget, proposed by the government, which reduced the forecast for public revenue by 4.56 billion patacas (€493.4 million).
The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Anton Tai Kin Ip, acknowledged to parliamentarians that the cut was because gross gambling revenues in the first quarter of 2025 were "slightly lower than expected".
The gambling capital of the world, Macau is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal.
Six concessionaires operate in the territory, MGM, Galaxy, Venetian, Melco, Wynn and SJM, which renewed their concession contract in December 2023 for the next ten years and which came into force on 1 January 2024.
VQ/ADB // ADB.
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