Mongolia may take second place in the rankings of fastest growing economies in the world, as the Economist Intelligence Unit puts Macau ahead of Mongolia in 2012. The EIU forecasts growth in Macau to reach 15 percent in 2012, compared to Mongolia's 14.8 percent growth.

While still ahead of other nations, 15 percent growth in Macau would be a reported cooling for the local economy.  In the first three quarters of 2011, its GDP grew by 21.8 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) in real terms. That figures is down from the 26.2 percent registered in 2010. For China, the EIU expects growth to reach a healthy 8.2 percent this year, although it is worried about growing debt there.

In Macau the local economy boomed in 2010, but it was outside investors who had the best year.  Data released by the Statistics and Census Services confirms that casinos are the dominant industry in the city, as gaming contributed 40.9 percent to the economy.