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Macau Casino Revenue Jumps 46 Percent

January 23, 2008

Casinos in Macau raked in more than US$10.3 billion (euro7.11 billion) in gaming revenue last year, the government said, a jump of 46 percent over the previous year as Las Vegas operators rushed to open luxury resorts targeting China's newly wealthy.

Macau, the only place in China where casino gambling is legal, overtook the Las Vegas Strip as the world's top gambling center in 2006. That year, its 24 casinos rang up US$6.95 billion in gambling revenue, while the Strip made US$6.69 billion, regulators in the cities said.

The former Portuguese territory _ with the addition of four new casinos last year _ is now rivaling the entire U.S. state of Nevada in gaming revenue, according to figures posted on the Web site of Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. Nevada reported gaming revenues of US$12.7 billion (euro8.77 billion) for the year to Nov. 30, 2007, according to the state's Gaming Control Board.

Openings in Macau last year included the massive US$2.4 billion (euro1.66 billion) Venetian Macao resort, operated by billionaire Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands Corp., and the MGM Grand, a joint venture between MGM Mirage and Pansy Ho, a daughter of local tycoon Stanley Ho.

Stanley Ho held a monopoly on casinos in Macau until 2004, when the government handed out gaming licenses to three other players. He still dominates, owning 18 of the territory's 28 casinos.

More than half of last year's gaming revenue, or about 55 billion patacas (US$6.9 billion; euro4.76 billion), was made on the high-stakes baccarat tables reserved for high rollers, government data showed.

High rollers are gamblers that typically spend at least half a million patacas (US$62,000; euro42,811) on casino betting on each trip to the territory, according to analysts and casino industry executives.

Macau, an hour by high-speed ferry west of Hong Kong, returned to Chinese rule in 1999, two years after Hong Kong did.

-- AP

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