By Kate O'Keeffe
HONG KONG--Gambling revenue in Macau in September rose 12% from
a year earlier, picking up from August, but still far slower than
the aggressive pace of previous years.
Total revenue in September was 23.87 billion patacas ($2.99
billion) compared with MOP21.24 billion in the same month last
year, Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau said
Thursday. The growth rate was higher than August's 5.5%
year-on-year rise, but was below some analysts' expectations for
growth as high as 20%.
In the first nine months of the year, revenue rose 15% from the
same period in 2011 to MOP223.3 billion.
Gambling revenue has shot up since the end of 2009, but the pace
of growth has slowed this year due to a high base of comparison
last year, when gambling revenue rose 42%.
Macau, the only place in China where casino gambling is legal,
is the world's largest gambling center. Last year it earned more
than five times the gambling revenue of the Las Vegas Strip.
Write to Kate O'Keeffe at kathryn.okeeffe@wsj.com