OCTOBER is set to be the worst month on record for casino revenues in the world’s biggest gambling hub of Macao as China’s pervasive war on corruption, combined with fewer tourists and slowing economic growth, dampen the appetite to wager.

    Gambling revenues for the month are expected to have fallen some 20-23 percent year on year, analysts say, the sharpest drop since the former Portuguese colony started keeping records.

    October would also be the fifth consecutive month of declines after two years of rapid growth which saw Macao surpass Las Vegas in revenue by seven times. The special administrative region is the only place where casino gambling is legal in China, and the Macao government is due to report the October revenue figures today, as yesterday is a government holiday.

    “It is worse in October than it was before October,” Steve Wynn, chief executive of Wynn Macao Ltd., told a recent earnings call. The casino operator is building a US$4 billion integrated resort, complete with a lake and air-conditioned gondolas, in the territory.

    Casino revenues make up about 80 percent of Macao’s income.

    China’s two-year anti-corruption campaign has taken its toll on the gaming sector, keeping big-spending, wealthy gamblers away — data from Macao’s gaming and inspection bureau show that VIP revenue accounted for a record low 56 percent of total revenues in the third quarter.(SD-Agencies)