Based on their annual reports, Genting Bhd, Genting Malaysia Bhd, breweries Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd and Heineken Bhd, and NFOs Sports Toto Bhd and Magnum Bhd have paid a combined RM792.03 million and RM1.07 billion in income taxes in FY2021 and FY2020, respectively. As for the NFOs, there are three levels of taxes — netted off when arriving at net gaming revenue, then under cost of sales, and finally, the usual corporate income taxes, a gaming analyst explained. Tax hikes in gaming industryThe last hike on gaming taxes was when Pakatan Harapan (PH) came into power in 2018, after defeating the ruling coalition government Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 14th general elections (GE14). Back then, the MOF raised casino duties to 35% from 25% on gross gaming income, and gaming machine duties to 30% from 20% on gross collection. “We gather from channel checks that the NFO industry contributes almost RM3 billion a year, while Genting Malaysia contributes over RM1 billion a year of gaming taxes based on our estimates,” it added.

Source: The Edge Markets November 24, 2022 04:12 UTC