Macao casinos see their worst year

Macao, the gambling capital of the world, saw its annual casino revenues decline for the first time in 2014 data released on Friday, as the Chinese government's corruption crackdown ended a decade of booming growth for the industry.

The release of special administrative region data showed gaming revenues falling by 2.6 percent year-on-year to 351.52 billion patacas ($44 billion) last year, the only decline since annual figures were first made public in 2002.

Last month's takings were especially dire, plunging by a record 30.5 percent year-on-year to 23.285 billion patacas. It was the seventh consecutive month of decline and the biggest drop since the gambling hub began recording monthly revenues in 2005.