Macau casinos posted stronger than expected gaming revenue growth in April, traditionally the weakest of the year’s first four months.

Figures released Tuesday by Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) show that the special administrative region’s casino operators generated gaming revenue of MOP25.7b (US$3.2b) in April, a 27.6% improvement over the same month last year.

The strong April result exceeded analysts’ expectations, despite having one fewer Saturday than April 2017. April’s revenue also extends Macau’s monthly revenue growth streak to 21 months, and brings the year-to-date total to MOP102.2b, up 22.2% from the same period in 2017.

Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen said April’s strong performance was the result of solid gains in both the VIP and mass market gaming segments, and April’s average daily revenue of MOP858m was on par with results seen during the most recent Lunar New Year and Golden Week holiday periods. Accordingly, Union Gaming bumped up its Q2 revenue growth forecast by two percentage points to 22%.