46 PERCENT RISE IN HALF YEAR REVENUES REPORTED BY MACAO

27 July 2007

US $4.75 billion from 26 casinos in Asia's gambling mecca

The Chinese news organisation Xinhua reported last week that the burgeoning Asian gambling centre of Macao is experiencing boom conditions with gaming revenues soaring by 46.1 percent year-on-year in the first six months of 2007.

Statistics issued by the government-run Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau showed Wednesday that the gross gaming and betting receipts, comprising casino games, horse and greyhound races and a string of lotteries, stood at 37.97 billion patacas (4.75 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of June.

Casino business alone accounted for over 98 percent of the industry's gross receipts between January and June, the figures showed.

The figures released reaffirmed the trend of rising gaming and falling betting gross receipts.

All types of betting business, including greyhound, horse races, soccer and basketball bets, and four types of lottery, witnessed a year-on-year decrease of 34.1 percent in the second quarter, standing at 1.84 billion patacas (230 million dollars).

The total betting amount in the first half of this year amounted to 3.57 billion patacas (446 million dollars), a drop of 32.4 percent from the same period of 2006.

In the casino sector, slot machines, or "the hungry tigers", saw a remarkable year-on-year rise of 76.3 percent in gross receipts in the first six months. Meanwhile, the share of slot machines in the local gaming market, in terms of gross receipts, rose from 3.4 percent in the first half of 2006 to 4.1 percent in the first six months of this year.

Baccarat was the hot card game, generating 85 percent of the gaming industry's total gross receipts in the first half.

Most of the 18 games of fortune offered by Macao's 26 casinos saw two-digit year-on-year growth in the first half, with Roulette, the traditional European game of luck, at the top with a 66 percent share in this category.

In the first half, the number of gaming tables rocketed to 3,102, seeing a year-on-year rise of 58.8 percent. The number of slot machines in the first half also saw a huge year-on-year increase of 81.7 percent, increasing to 8 234.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa