Macau, China, Oct. 17, 2024 (Lusa) - Revenue from VIP gambling in Macau in the third quarter of 2024 was up 11.2% on the same period a year earlier, but was still just 42.1% of its level before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the latest official figures on the sector.

Casinos collected 13.1 billion patacas (€1.5 billion) in the quarter from the so-called VIP baccarat game, Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) revealed on Wednesday.

Even so, VIP gambling remains far below the level recorded in the third quarter of 2019, when this segment recorded bets worth 31.1 billion patacas (€3.57 billion) and accounted for 43.8% of Macau casino revenue.

Large-scale betting, which accounted for 23.5% between July and September, was affected by the arrest of the head of the world's largest VIP betting company in November 2021.

The former CEO of Suncity, Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, was in January 2023 sentenced to 18 years in prison for illegal gambling and secret society, in a case that saw the number of gambling promoter licences issued in Macau fall to 18 from 85.

In April 2023, the former head of another VIP bookmaker in Macau, the Tak Chun Group, Levo Chan Weng Lin, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for offences ranging from illegal gambling to money laundering.

Meanwhile, baccarat in the so-called mass market accounted for 61.1% of total gambling revenue in Macau in the third quarter, at 34.1 billion patacas (€3.91 billion), or 14.5% more than in the same period last year.

VQ/ARO // ARO.

Lusa