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MACAO MILLIONS

A booming start to 2008

Macao's gaming revenues reached US$ 680 million in the first 15 days of 2008, according to a report today (Thursday) by The Macao Daily News, a major local Chinese language newspaper.

The numbers look set to chase the record month of November last year for the Asian gambling mecca, in which revenues reached US$ 1.2 billion.

The Las Vegas style casino resort MGM Grand Macao, opened in September 2007, has expanded the gaming market by increasing the number of casinos in Macao to 28, but the island city's gaming industry development may be affected by the credit crunch in the United States, said Dr. Fong Ka Chio, director of Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming at the University of Macao.

He pointed out that the current subprime mortgage crisis may prompt banks to squeeze their credits, which will dry up funds for American gaming companies to further pursue their investment in Macao.

For the time being, big American gaming companies, including the Las Vegas Sands, Wynn and MGM Mirage have all entered Macao's gaming market, heating up the competition with local gaming magnate Stanley Ho whose decades-old monopoly ended in 2001.

Macao recorded gaming revenue of over US$ 10 billion in 2007, outstripping Las Vegas.