Nevada casinos end fiscal year with winnings up 2.9 percent

By Thomas Moore

Published Thursday, July 27, 2017 | 9:26 a.m.

Updated Thursday, July 27, 2017 | 12:02 p.m.

Nevada’s gaming revenue was up last month and for fiscal 2017, according to numbers released today by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

For the fiscal year ending June 30, gaming revenue for all of Nevada’s nonrestricted gaming licensees — casinos with 15 or more slot machines — increased by 2.9 percent, a good number compared to fiscal 2016, when it increased by 0.7 percent.

The numbers were positive for slots and table games, both of which showed positive increases but in different ways. Slot volume, also known as coin-in, was up, and slot win, the amount casinos kept from coin-in, was also up.

“Slot volume increased 1.5 percent and was $108.4 billion. That’s three consecutive years that’s happened (volume has increased), and that hasn’t happened since 2005 2006, and 2007,” said Michael Lawton, senior research analyst for the Tax and License Division of the board.

Nevada and its larger casinos kept more of that slot money, too, with win increasing 2.9 percent in fiscal 2017.

The story at the tables was different. Even though the overall amount of table game action — also known as volume or drop — was down this past fiscal year, the amount the industry kept — also known as win or hold — increased by 3 percent.

“Luck played a lot into that, because the drop was down 2.4 percent with $29.8 billion in game and table volume,” Lawton said. “The hold was 13.97 percent. That’s the highest game and table hold percentage since fiscal year 2004. It’s a little bit of an anomaly.”

Lawton said part of the increase in table game hold can be attributed to rule changes and other tweaks made by casinos, but most of it was luck.

For the month of June, meanwhile, Nevada’s gaming revenue at nonrestricted casinos was $895,427,384, up 0.9 percent from June 2016.

The board also released June revenue numbers by region.

Compared to last June, revenue on the Strip was up 1.65 percent, and in downtown Las Vegas, it was up 8.72 percent. North Las Vegas, Laughlin, and the Boulder Strip, however, were down by 11.14 percent, 4.13 percent, and 15.14 percent, respectively.

Revenue in Mesquite was up 3.7 percent, while the remainder of Clark County was up 5.84 percent.

Lawton said the drops in North Las Vegas, the Boulder Strip and Laughlin were largely the result of when the casinos in those areas tallied their numbers. “In the big picture, those markets are fine,” he said.

Reno saw a gain of 1.48 percent, while Sparks was down 1.1 percent. In North Lake Tahoe, revenue dropped 15.47 percent, and in the rest of Washoe County, revenue was up 20.29 percent.

In South Lake Tahoe, revenue was up 9.38 percent, and in Elko County, it was up 9.42 percent. In the Carson Valley, revenue was up 3.16 percent. Carson Valley numbers include Carson City, Gardnerville, Minden and all other areas of Douglas County, except South Lake Tahoe.

June’s gaming revenue resulted in a July Nevada gaming tax and fee collection of $51,806,258, which is up 5.77 percent from the same period last year.

You can view the Gaming Control Board’s abbreviated release on June numbers here, the full revenue report for June, which includes fiscal 2017 number, here, and an archive of past revenue reports here.