Macau’s Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, said Sunday the Macau government has been calculating the gaming revenue generated by foreign customers by tracking electronic gaming tables and electronic chips in foreigner-only gambling zones. However, he did not provide any color on the number of foreign customers who have generated GGR so far this year.
Section 22(3) of Macau’s new Gaming Law stipulates that the government may waive up to 5% of government charges on GGR generated by foreign players, meaning those not from Macau, mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan.
Lei was interviewed on the issue of foreign gaming areas by local media after attending a cocktail reception to celebrate National Day on Sunday.
“Various Macau concessionaires have set up dedicated foreign gaming areas with electronic gaming tables and electronic chips for the government to identify the gambling revenue generated by foreign gamblers,” he said.
“The concessionaire submit data to the government on a daily basis and the DICJ verifies the data on a daily basis.”
Lei did not disclose any actual figures in the interview, only pointing out that “in order to apply for a waiver, the concessionaire has to go through a vetting process and the data must be generated by foreign gamblers.
“There are KPIs for the concessionaires to attract investment from foreigners or non-gaming elements, which have been clearly stated in the contracts.”
Lei added that Macau’s main sources of foreign tourists were Southeast Asia and South Korea, while tourism numbers from Europe and the United States needs to be improved on aviation capacity.
“Macau’s visitor arrivals in the first nine months were close to 20 million, with Saturday’s arrivals reaching 158,000, the highest single-day arrivals since the outbreak and higher than the same period before the outbreak,” he said.
