MACAO -- The total revenues of Macao's gaming sector for August this year amounted to 24.76 billion patacas ($3.09 billion), reaching an all-time high, according to the figures released on Thursday by the city's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.

It was the third time for Macao's monthly revenues for the gaming sector to exceed $3 billion. Total revenues for August increased by 2.3 percent over the previous month, when monthly revenue of Macao's gaming sector reached 24.21 billion patacas.

The figures indicated that the revenues for August 2011 increased by 57 percent over the same period of the previous year.

As for the first eight months of 2011, the figures increased by 46.8 percent year-on-year to 173.1 billion patacas, according to the Bureau.

Being the only place in China where gambling is legal, there were 34 casinos with 5,237 gaming tables and 15,098 slot machines in Macao by the end of June this year, according to official figures.