Macau surges 25.6% on boom in gaming

MACAU'S economy expanded at its fastest rate in three years in the first quarter as the gaming industry continues to boom in the only Chinese city where casinos are legal.

Gross domestic product surged 25.6 percent in the three months to March 31, according to a statement on the Website of the government's statistics bureau. It was the fastest rate since the first quarter of 2004, when GDP rose 26.2 percent. Casino companies including Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts Ltd are betting China's rising incomes will fuel gaming growth in the former Portuguese colony, which last year overtook the Las Vegas Strip as the world's biggest gaming hub. Macau's gambling revenue reached 18.07 billion patacas (US$2.24 billion) in the first quarter, 43.5 percent higher than a year earlier.