"How to attract foreign tourists?" (+ Charter flights)
mar25 U Io Hung , president of the Macau Professional Association of Gaming Promoters , has criticized Macau’s tax rebate policy on foreign bets, calling it a “failure.” Designed to attract more international gamblers and boost the local gaming economy, the initiative has failed to produce meaningful results, he claims. Speaking to AGB, U assessed the policy’s effectiveness following confirmation from the Macao Government Tourism Office ( MGTO ) that total approved tax breaks on gross gaming revenue from international players increased in 2024 compared to the previous year. However, no specific figures were disclosed. Despite this reported increase, U dismissed the impact as negligible, stating that the amount of gaming tax breaks granted remained “extremely low.” “To get the tax break, foreign players need to gamble in small, isolated spaces. No one wants that,” U explained. Under Macau’s gaming law, updated in 2022, operators must pay a 40 percent levy on their gross gaming reve...