Nevada Casino Revenues Down 5% to $860M in August
September 30, 2016 12:42 pmThe Nevada Gaming Control Board has released its latest casino figures for August, revealing a 5% fall in revenues to $860.7m compared to the same month in 2015. The state subsequently received $48 million by way of gambling taxes, down by 8% year-over-year. Being blamed for much of the revenue decline was the double-digit drop reported on the Las Vegas Strip, as well as August having two less weekend days versus last year.
Breaking the figures down, Nevada’s slot operations contributed $594m to the state’s gambling revenues, or 3.2% more than August of 2015. Table games, however, had a rough month led by baccarat which saw its revenues plummet by 42% to $73.6m. Faring slightly better was blackjack down 6.6% to $81.2m; craps down 5.7% to $26.5m; and roulette down 0.5% to $25.4m.
The Las Vegas Strip typically accounts for around half the revenues generated by the state, and last month it collected $449 million, or 14.7% less than last August. Badly impacting the numbers was baccarat, which accounted for $53.6 million of the $77.8 million decrease in revenues compared to August 2015, and commenting on the figures, Michael Lawton, senior research analyst for the state Gaming Control Board, stated:
“If you take baccarat out of this month’s equation, the Strip win was down 6.1 percent. If you exclude baccarat volume from the equation, betting volumes — slots and non-baccarat table — were down just 3 percent.”
Elsewhere around the state, Downtown Las Vegas was up by 7% to $42.8m; North Las Vegas was up 12.5% to $24.4m; Laughlin up 2.6% to $36.1m; South Lake Tahoe up 26.6% to $23.9m; Boulder Strip up 22.2% to $73.6m; and Washoe County up by 0.4% to $70.1m. Posting slight drops in year-on-year revenues, however, was Mesquite down 0.02% to $8.1m, and Carson Valley down 1.9% to $8.6m.
Nevada Casino Revenues in 2016:
January: $925m
February: $990m
March: $922m
April: $876m
May: $958m
June: $887m
July: $1.02m
August: $861m
In 2015, Nevada’s roughly 330 casinos generated revenues of $11.1 billion, with the state’s peak year being 2007 ($12.8bn), and its low point 2009/2010 ($10.4bn).