Macau‘s 40 casinos reportedly saw their aggregated gross gaming revenues for the whole of 2017 reach a three-year high of just over $33.01 billion thanks in large part to a resurgence in the numbers of high-stakes players.

According to a report from the Reuters news service citing official figures from Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, the annual result represented a 19% increase year-on-year and was almost 15.2% higher than 2015’s figure of $28.68 billion.

However, the tally for the twelve months to the end of December was reportedly some 24.4% down on the $43.67 billion in aggregated gross gaming revenues recorded for 2014 and stood a little over 26.3% lower than the record $44.82 billion seen for the entirety of 2013.

The figures from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau reportedly also showed that aggregated gross gaming revenues for December in Macau hit $2.82 billion, which represented a swell of 14.6% year-on-year, while October was the year’s most lucrative month as takings rose 22.1% to hit nearly $3.31 billion.

Reuters additionally reported that annual aggregated gross gaming revenues in Macau were higher for operators such as Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited and Galaxy Entertainment Group Limited as well the local subsidiaries of American casino giants Wynn Resorts Limited and Las Vegas Sands Corporation due to the performance of their properties on the opulent Cotai Strip.

The news service moreover reported that the former Portuguese enclave’s other licensed casino operators, SJM Holdings Limited and the MGM China Holdings Limited subordinate of Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts International, saw their market shares eroded in 2017 due to their lack of a presence on the Cotai Strip. But, the latter is due to inaugurate its $3 billion MGM Cotai development later this month while the former is expected to open the nearby The Grand Lisboa Palace venue closer to 2019.