Macao gaming revenue surges in 2011 Macao surpassed even the most bullish expectations to report 42.2 per cent growth in 2011 gaming revenue as Chinese appetite for gambling proved more resilient to the country's credit-tightening cycle, which has had a huge impact on business and the property market. Data released by the former Portuguese colony's gaming regulator on Tuesday showed 25 per cent growth in December's gaming revenue from a year ago, which took the year's total to $33.5bn. IN Travel & Leisure Following the 57 per cent growth in Macao's gaming revenue in 2010, nobody expected the market to grow at the rate that we have seen. At the beginning of 2011, we were expecting a 20 per cent growth for that year, and we were among the most bullish in the sector," said Aaron Fischer, Asia head of consumer and gaming research at CLSA. He attributed the growth to rising income and a stronger than expected appetite to gamble among China's rising middle class rather than money laundering or China's negative interest rate - which some analysts speculated had driven excess capital to Macao's casinos. Analysts said the rate of growth could this year slow to 15-20 per cent - mainly because the size of the market had already ballooned to more than five times that of Las Vegas - while new casino capacity would be limited. This means that Macao is not going to see a repeat in 2012 of last May's opening of the 450-table Galaxy Macau resort, which boosted the number of tables in the only Chinese city where casinos are allowed by about 9 per cent. Francis Tam, the city's secretary for economy and finance, has insisted that Macao would not lift its 5,500 table cap before 2013 in spite of there already being more than 5,300 tables in Macao casinos. This means that Las Vegas Sands, the only large casino operator with new properties opening this year in Macao, could in theory be limited to adding fewer than 200 tables on a net basis. While China's monetary tightening policy has so far had no significant impact on the industry, its continuation would curtail the so-called VIP segment of the market, which accounts for about two-thirds of Macao's gaming market, analysts said. The segment's growth rate could fall from 48 per cent last year to 33 per cent in 2012 because junket operators - which arrange loans to the VIPs, who tend to bet on credit - are set to have their liquidity squeezed, according to RBS analysts.