Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Nevada casino revenue down 1.5 percent in November

The Strip From Above

Tom Donoghue / DonoghuePhotography.com

A bird’s-eye view of the Las Vegas Strip at dusk, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016.

The gaming win for nonrestricted casinos in Nevada was $930.4 million in November compared to $944.3 million for November 2015, a drop of 1.47 percent.

While that number seems off-putting, Michael Lawton, senior research analyst for the Nevada Gaming Control Board said the trend is positive overall if you don’t compare it to last November.

“The state was facing a difficult comparison,” Lawton said. “Last November, the state was up 7.8 percent. But the state has only recorded two decreases in the last six months. For the calendar year, the state is up 1.7 percent.”

The results for the fiscal year to date ( July 1-Nov. 30) were positive as well with a win of $4.7 billion compared to $4.6 billion for the same months in 2015, an increase of 3.55 percent.

Lawton also said table games were another reason for the lower results.

“Basically, the state gaming table win came in $325.2 million, a decrease of $22.7 million or 6.5 percent,” he said. “And the primary driver of the gaming table win decrease was baccarat.”

Lawton said the baccarat win was $84.8 million, a decrease of 22.8 percent or $25.1 million compared to last November. If you take out baccarat, he said, the numbers look better.

“Without baccarat, the statewide total win (for November) would have increased 1.3 percent or $11.2 million,” Lawton said. “You tend to take it out to see what we do without it. And when you look at those metrics, you see that non-baccarat gaming win was up and slots were up as well.”

For the calendar year the slot win was up 2.8%, and there have been seven consecutive increases in slot win, Lawton said. “On the volume side, $8.7 billion was wagered on slots,” Lawton said. “That was up $177.5 million, or 2.1 percent.”

That apparent poor November 2016 to November 2015 comparison played out in individual areas of Nevada as well.

Compared to November last year, the win was down for Clark County overall by 2.05 percent, for the Strip by 3.48 percent, for downtown Las Vegas by 5.34 percent and for North Las Vegas by 9.17 percent.

The story was a little different in other parts of Clark County. Laughlin saw an increase of 5.77 percent; Boulder Strip increased by 3.25 percent; and Mesquite’s gaming win grew by 1.86 percent.

The board reported that revenue in Washoe County — which includes Reno and Sparks — was up 1.11 percent, and the Carson Valley area (Carson City, Gardnerville, Minden and all other areas of Douglas County except South Lake Tahoe) was up 1.24 percent. South Lake

Tahoe revenue rose 12.58 percent.

In December, Nevada took in $55.9 million in taxes from November’s win, a decrease of 3.41 percent for the same period last year when it collected $57.9 million.

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