Wednesday, June 11, 2008 | 12:22 p.m.
CARSON CITY - Casinos along the Las Vegas Strip cleaned up on sports betting during April but lost heavily on slot machines as their gross gaming win dropped for the fourth consecutive month.
And the picture was no better in much of the rest of the state in April, with only clubs in South Lake Tahoe showing an increase in their win compared to the same month last year.
The state Gaming Control Board reported today that Nevada casinos won $1 billion before expenses in April, a drop of 5 percent from a year ago.
The 40 casinos on the Strip reported a gross win of $524.1 million, off 1.2 percent compared to a year ago.
Board spokesman Frank Streshley said the sports pools won $3 million, up a whopping 1,218 percent. That came mostly on basketball betting on the college Final Four games and the NBA playoffs.
But the casinos' take from slot machine play was off on the Strip. The casinos recorded $275.7 million in gross win, down 7.1 percent from the same month in 2007. Streshley said the amount played in the slots fell by more than 7 percent -- a sign of tough economic times with people spending less.
Every market in Clark County registered a decline in casino gross revenue during April.
Downtown Las Vegas casinos reported a $52.7 million win, down 6.7 percent. The 11 clubs in North Las Vegas reported a 22.3 percent drop in gross revenue in April to $21.9 million. In Laughlin, 10 clubs reported a gross win of $53.3 million, down 6.3 percent. The 32 casinos on the Boulder Strip registered $74.5 million in gross win, down 12.1 percent. And Mesquite's seven casinos posted a gross win of $12.8 million, down 34.6 percent.
The 56 other casinos in Clark County posted a gross win of $110.4 million, off 4.3 percent.
Most Northern Nevada casinos had a similar month. Washoe County casinos posted a $78 million win, an 11.8 percent drop in gross revenue, casinos in Elko County reported a win of $24.5 million, down 3.8 percent, and Carson Valley clubs were off 4 percent to $8.6 million.
One of the few bright spots came in South Lake Tahoe, where casinos registered a $24.4 million win, up 12.6 percent.
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