HONG KONG (Reuters) - Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd (>> Galaxy Entertainment Group Limited) posted a 36 percent increase in net profit for 2013 as Chinese visitors flocked to its flagship property in the world's largest gambling destination.

Galaxy, one of six licensed operators in Macau, said net profit for last year was HK$10.1 billion ($1.30 billion), in line with a Thomson Reuters forecast of HK$10.2 billion by 23 analysts.

A $40 billion company by market capitalisation, Galaxy is the second-biggest gaming firm in Macau after Sands China (>> SANDS CHINA LTD.). Macau, a special administrative region like neighbouring Hong Kong, is the only place in China where casino gambling is allowed.

Controlled by the Hong Kong-based Lui family, Galaxy is expected to open a new phase of its Galaxy Macau property in 2015, making it one of the first operators to open a new casino as part of Macau's second wave of expansion which will see eight new mega resorts built by 2017.

Galaxy is armed with the biggest land bank on Macau's developing Las Vegas-style strip known as Cotai. The company's current casino on Cotai accounts for just 25 percent of its total allocated space.

Casino companies in the former Portuguese colony like Steve Wynn's Wynn Macau Ltd (>> Wynn Macau Ltd) and MGM China Holdings Ltd (>> MGM China Holdings Ltd) are racing to develop new properties to capture a larger slice of the Macau market, which raked in $45 billion last year.

Shares in Galaxy have surged 134 percent in the past year versus the benchmark Hang Seng Index <.HSI> which is down 2 percent in the same period.

The company is the best performer among 52 top casino operators in the world on price performance, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine. ($1 = 7.7669 Hong Kong Dollars)

(Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Matt Driskill and Ryan Woo)