The gross revenue of Macao's casinos rose 19 percent in the first half of the year over the same period of 2004, local media reported Friday.

The Macao Post quoted sources from the gaming industry as saying that the 17 registered casinos recorded a gross revenue of 3.5 billion patacas (US$437 million) in June alone.

Since Macao lifted the monopoly of the gaming industry in 2002, the special administrative region has seen a boom of the business, as the casinos' gross revenue reached the record of 40.18 billion patacas (US$5.02 billion) in 2004,a year-on-year growth of 44 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2005)