Macao’s casinos are heading for a FALL next year, the island’s Chinese bosses have warned.

Ho Hau Wah — the man who runs the former portuguese colony on behalf of its new rulers in mainland China — said today that the autonomous city state’s prosperity was likely to suffer NEGATIVE growth next year as the slowdown in the world economy bit hard.

Official figures show that so far this year Macau’s gambling turnover totals nearly £4 BILLION, up almost 55 per cent on the same period last year.

Tables Closed

But shrinking budgets, a squeeze on credit and soaring fuel prices — coupled with the rise in popularity of online gambling — mean investment in Macao’s gaming industry will “certainly slow down”, Ho told Macau’s parliament, the Legislative Assembly of the Special Administration Region of Macau.

in April, city lawmakers banned newcomers from entering the island’s gaming sector as well as limiting existing casino operators to 4,000 gaming tables in total.

But despite the record profit figures, the global credit crunch is finally hitting home with some croupier lay-offs of at Macau casinos.

As Casino Update reported last month, industry insiders were warning of tighter times ahead because profits for the most recent three months were DOWN by more than 2 per cent on the previous quarter.