Macau casinos rake in $2b

05.09.2009, HONG KONG - MACAU'S casinos raked in a record US$1.5 billion (S$2,16 billion) in August, their highest-ever monthly revenue and up more than 17 per cent on the same month last year, a report said Thursday.

Analysts hailed the second consecutive month of year-on-year revenue growth in the world's largest casino market as the start of a recovery, the South China Morning Post said, after a 12.4 per cent decline in the first half.

The August figure of 11.27 billion patacas (US$1.5 billion) was 17.8 per cent higher than the previous month, and 33 per cent more than the average monthly revenue during the 12 months to July, the report said.

The previous monthly record stood at 10.33 billion patacas in January 2008.

Morgan Stanley analyst Praveen Choudhary expects this month's casino revenue to grow 40 per cent from a low of 7.09 billion patacas a year earlier, according to the Post.

Tourism has surged since the former Portuguese colony's casino industry was liberalised and billions of dollars of investment began pouring in.

With enormous casino complexes cropping up over the past few years, Macau has easily overtaken Las Vegas in terms of gaming revenue.

Macau's August figure was slightly more than triple the Las Vegas Strip's US$471.25 million average monthly casino revenue during the 12 months to June, the Post said.

The August rise comes despite a worsening economy, with Macau's GDP shrinking 13.7 per cent in the second quarter of the year, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.

Zeng Zhonglu, of the Macau Polytechnic Institute, said it showed the former Portuguese colony's gaming market is yet to be saturated despite operators continuing to unveil new concessions, the agency said.

City of Dreams and Hotel Lan Kwai Fong Macau opened in June and August, bringing the city's total number of casinos to more than 30. However, the Macau government has predicted a 10 per cent drop in gross gaming revenues for the whole year. -- AFP

Über Glücksspiele in Macau - Gambling in Macao:

Macau (englisch Macao) liegt rund 50 Kilometer westlich von Hongkong und ist das Glücksspiel-Paradies in Asien.

Macau hat rund 40 Spielcasinos. Die grössten Casinos sind The Venetian Macao, MGM Macao, Wynn Macao, Galaxy StarWorld, City of Dreams, Sands Macao, Casino Lisboa.

Neben den riesigen und farbenfrohen Casinobuildings ist eines der Wahrzeichen der Macau Tower (Fernsehturm mit 338 Meter) mit atemberaubenden Ausblicken auf die Stadt.

Macau erstreckt sich über eine Fläche von 115.3 km2 und hat rund 620'000 Einwohner.

--- Ende Artikel / Pressemitteilung Macau casinos rake in $2b ---


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