MACAO -- The revenue of Macao's gaming industry registered a rise of 8 percent to 19.82 billion patacas (about $2.48 billion) in December 2016, the special administrative region's gaming watchdog said Wednesday.

It was the fifth month of its gaming revenue rebound since August 2016.

A statistic report issued by Macao's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau shows that the accumulated revenue until December in 2016 reached 223.21 billion patacas (about $27.97 billion), still 3.3 percent lower than 2015.

But the variance of monthly accumulated revenue between 2016 and 2015 has improved significantly since the percentage dropped from minus 21.4 in January 2016 to minus 3.3 in December.

Macao's gaming revenue registered a 1.1 percent year-on-year rise in August 2016, reversed the 26-month slump of the industry.