Macau's booming casinos post 17 percent revenue gain in August

Reuters

(Widens distribution)

Sept 1 - Gambling revenue in the Chinese territory of Macau posted a 17 percent gain in August, thanks to active gaming by Chinese betters keen to play in the country's only legal casino hub.

August's gains mark 25 straight months of rising gambling revenues in the former Portuguese colony, which is back to boom times after plunging on slowing economic growth and a widespread crackdown on corruption starting in 2014.

Figures from Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau out on Saturday showed revenues rose 17 percent to 26.6 billion patacas ($3.3 billion) versus analyst expectations of 15-17 percent growth.

($1 = 8.0210 patacas) (Reporting by Kane Wu; Writing by Farah Master; Editing by Eric Meijer)