MACAO, May 18 (Xinhua) -- The government of the Macao Special Administrative Region has collected 8.95 billion patacas (1.12 billion U.S. dollars) in direct gaming taxes in the first four months of this year, a year-on-year rise of 46.8 percent.

    The statistics issued Friday by the Finance Services Bureau (FSB) showed that the gaming taxes accounted for 73.9 percent of the government total revenue during the period.

    Macao's 26 casinos pay 35 percent of their gross receipts as direct tax to the government.

    The region, with a population of 508,000, has a 150-year history of gaming industry and is the only part of China where casino gaming is legitimate.