Macau casinos hit jackpot with $45B revenue

HONG KONG — The tiny Chinese city of Macau has again smashed its annual record for casino earnings as revenues last year hit a staggering $45 billion.

The money earned cemented Macau's position as the world's biggest gambling market.

Gambling regulator data released Thursday show that Macau's three dozen casinos raked in 33.5 billion patacas ($4.2 billion) in December. That brought revenue for 2013 to 360.8 billion patacas ($45 billion), up 18.6 percent from the year before.

Analyst Grant Govertsen of Union Gaming Research estimates Macau's take would be more than seven times the amount earned on the Las Vegas Strip.