(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-22 14:28

MACAO - The government of the Macao Special Administrative Region has collected 16.01 billion patacas (US$2.01 billion) in direct gaming taxes in the first seven months of the year, a remarkable year-on-year rise of 48.1 percent.

The statistics issued Tuesday by the Finance Services Bureau showed that the gaming taxes accounted for 73 percent of the government total revenue in the period.

Macao's 26 casinos pay 35 percent of their gross receipts as direct tax to the government.

The region, with a population of 580,000, has a 150-year history of gaming industry and is the only part of China where casino gaming is legitimate.