Macau, China, 18 July – Gross gaming and gambling revenues in Macau totalled 124.126 billion patacas (US$15.515 billion) in the first six months of 2011, representing a year-on-year rise of 44.6 percent, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (GICB) said.

In accumulated terms, and with the exception of January in year-on-year growth was 33.2 percent, in the remaining months the growth rate varied between a minimum of 40.4 percent in February and a maximum of 44.6 percent in June.

In June, gross revenues totalled 20.792 billion patacas (US$2.599 billion), which was a rise of 52.4 percent against June 2010, but a drop of 14.4 percent against the revenues for May, when revenues rose sharply against an average of around 20 billion patacas (US$2.5 billion).

Casino gaming was once again focused on baccarat and VIP baccarat, which provided revenues of 113.109 billion patacas or 91 percent of the total, and remaining revenues came from games such as blackjack, cussec and slot machines, which generated revenues of 5.551 billion patacas.

The GICB said that gross revenues from all types of gaming – casino gambling, horse and dog racing, Chinese and instant lotteries – in the first half of the year totalled 124.735 billion.

At the end of the first half, there were 34 casinos in Macau, 20 of which were owned by Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, three by Venetian Macau, six by Galaxy Casino, three by Melco/PBL Jogos (Macau) and one each by Wynn Resorts and MGM Grand Paradise. (macauhub)