Total receipts for the gaming sector in the Chinese casino hub quadrupled to 189 billion patacas ($23.5 billion) last year, while the pre-tax gross surplus of gaming concessionaires grew nearly nine times to $14.4 billion.

Tourists flocked back to the former Portuguese colony after Beijing reversed course on the pandemic and lifted travel curbs in late 2022.

"Resumption of travel activities provided a boost to the gaming sector, driving up receipts and expenditure of the sector," the Macau government said in a news release.

Receipts from games of chance in 2023 stood at $22.9 billion, a figure only 63 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

The gaming sector's total expenditure, which includes employee compensation and operating expenses, nearly doubled to $10 billion last year.

Macau's broader recovery this year may be hampered by China's slowing economy, with tourists willing to spend in casinos but less so in retail stores and restaurants, analysts say.

After peaking in 2019, the number of full-time employees in the gaming sector has steadily fallen and hit 51,771 last year -- the lowest level in more than a decade.

Macau has long surpassed Las Vegas to be the world's top casino hub but the city has been under pressure from Beijing to diversify its economy.

China maintains strict foreign exchange controls and its ministry of public security led a multi-million-dollar crackdown on illegal money changers and loan sharks in Macau in recent months.

Sam Hou-fai, a former top judge in Macau who is running for city leader, said last month that casinos had "expanded wildly" and that having one dominant industry was bad for the city.