Macao's gaming revenue was driven up by the holiday travel with all 15 casinos in Macao producing a gross revenue of 1.5 billion patacas (US$187 million) in the first 10 days of the month.

Tuesday's Macao Post quoted its source as saying that in October, the casino revenue is expected to beat the monthly record of 4.1 billion patacas (US$512 million) made in August.

The first seven days in October coincided with the "Golden Week " holiday in China's mainland, which saw an influx of some 400,000 visitors to Macao. The figure represented a 35 percent year-on- year increase.

Macao's casino sector generated 30 billion patacas (US$3.7 billion) in gross revenue in the first nine months, which were some 2 billion patacas (US$250 million) more than that reaped for the whole of last year.

Macao's casinos pay 35 percent of their gross revenue in direct tax to the Macao Special Administrative Region government. The government received 9.25 billion patacas (US$1 billion) in casino taxes in the first three quarters, which represented a growth of 50 percent over the same period of last year.

(eastday.com October 13, 2004)