Macau gambling revenue rises 3.1 percent in January to $2.4 billion

The world's biggest casino hub of Macau posted a 3.1 percent rise in gambling revenue in January as demand in China's only legal casino hub gained further steam after a more than two-year slump bottomed out in mid-2016.

Gambling revenue in January rose to 19.3 billion patacas ($2.4 billion), government data showed on Wednesday, getting a boost from a national holiday at the end of January.

Macau gambling revenues, which were hurt by a corruption crackdown and slowing economic growth, have been on a positive streak since August 2016 after the opening of new resorts helped bring in more casual gamblers and wealthy spenders to the southern Chinese territory.

($1 = 7.9840 patacas)

(Reporting by Hong Kong Newsroom; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)