Macau casino VIP gambling revenue growth outpaced overall casino gaming revenue growth in 2017, despite a mild VIP slowdown in the year’s final quarter.

Figures released Tuesday by Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) showed casino gaming revenue hitting MOP 72.36b (US $9b) in the final three months of 2017. Of this sum, VIP gaming claimed MOP 40.6b, its highest quarterly total last year, and nearly 22% higher than Q4 2016.

However, Q4’s VIP growth rate was significantly below Q3’s 35%, which Union Gaming analysts partially chalked up to a lower than normal win rate in the month of December. Still, VIP’s share of Q4’s overall casino pie nudged up one point to 56.2%.

For FY17, VIP revenue improved 26.7% to MOP 150.7b, outpacing the 19.5% growth reported by the overall casino market last year. VIP baccarat accounted for 56.7% of 2017’s overall casino revenue, 1.7 points higher than last year.