Australian and New Zealand casino operator The Star Entertainment Group says its Asian VIP gambling segment has been on fire since the year began.

On Monday, The Star held its annual investor day presentation, which included a trading update on the year-to-date up to May 23. The company said total ‘normalized’ gaming revenue is up 16.4% from the same period last year, thanks in part to its thriving ‘International VIP Rebate’ business (aka Asian gambling whales).

The Star said its VIP turnover was up 63.7% year-on-year, due in part to the company’s efforts to expand its quest for VIP customers beyond China – or ‘North Asia’ as the Beijing-crackdown-phobic company euphemistically calls it – to other South Asia nations and also recruiting more non-junket premium mass customers.

While VIP volume was way up, the VIP win rate was below the theoretical 1.35% rate. That trend was on full display in the second half of 2017, during which VIP win sunk to just 1.06% as luck favored the gamblers for a change.