Macao's 16 casinos generated a total gross revenue of about 3.6 billion patacas (450 million US dollars) in January, an increase of some 20 percent over the same month last year. 

Wednesday's Macao Post quoted its source as saying that 14 casinos affiliated to the Macao Gaming Co. Ltd. owned by tycoon Stanley Ho held 70 percent of the total gross revenue. The remainder was shared between the Las Vegas-invested Sands Casino and the Hong Kong-run Galaxy Waldo Casino.

The casino business yielded a gross revenue of around 40 billion patacas (5 billion US dollars) last year, representing a year-on-year increase of 40 percent.

As the casinos were contracted to pay 35 percent of their gross revenue to the government's tax coffer, the Macao Special Administrative Region government taxed 14 billion patacas (1.75 billion US dollars) from the sector last year.

Economists expect the government's casino tax income to exceed 18 billion patacas (2.25 billion US dollars) this year.

Macao is the only city in China where gambling is legal. The first gaming businesses were licensed in around 1847 in the city.

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2005)