China's Macao Special Administrative Region has seen a 23 percent increase of revenue from gaming taxes during the first four months over the same period last year, local media reported Thursday.

The Macau Post quoted sources from the Finance Services Bureau as saying that the government received 5.27 billion patacas (630 million US dollars) from the casino-gaming industry during the period.

Gaming taxes generated 78 percent of the government's revenue, which totaled 6.75 billion patacas (820 million US dollars) from January to April, the newspaper reported.

Macao's 17 casinos pay 35 percent of their gross revenue as direct tax to the government, it added.

Source: Xinhua