By Kate O'Keeffe
HONG KONG--Fueled by a Chinese holiday week, Macau's gambling
revenue hit an all-time high in October, though year-on-year growth
slowed to just 3.2% compared with 12% in September.
Gambling revenue rose to 27.70 billion Macanese patacas ($3.5
billion) last month, topping the previous record of MOP26.85
billion set in the same month a year earlier, showed data released
Thursday by Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
In the first 10 months of the year, revenue rose 14% from the
same period in 2011 to MOP221.2 billion.
Gambling revenue has shot up since the end of 2009, but the pace
of growth has slowed this year due to a decelerating Chinese
economy and 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
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