Macao gambling industry slumps

Macao's gambling industry, which contributes nearly 70 percent of the special administrative region's revenue, has been hit hard in the wake of the global financial crisis, a NPC deputy said yesterday.

"We now need to focus on developing other industries to help the region's economy," Chui Sai Peng, a deputy from Macao, told China Daily on the sidelines of the annual session of the NPC.

In January, Macao's gambling revenue was $928 million, down 30 percent over the same period last year, sources with the Statistics and Census Service of Macao said.