Macau casinos post 36.4 pct jump in January gambling revenue
Hong Kong, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Gambling revenue in the Chinese territory of Macau skyrocketed 36 percent in January on strong demand from big whale gamblers, while mom-and-pop mass punters eager to play in the country's only legal casino hub also drove up business.
The world's biggest casino hub saw revenues hitting 26.3 billion patacas ($3.27 billion) in January, versus 19.3 billion patacas a year ago, data from Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination bureau showed on Thursday.
This was far ahead of analysts' expectations for a 20-28 percent growth. ($1 = 8.0440 patacas) (Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Gopakumar Warrier)