Nevada Casino Revenue Up 7% To $880 Million In November

The state of Nevada has just published its gambling figures for November 2011, showing a 7.1% increase in revenue to $880.1 million compared to the $822.1 million collected in the same period last year.
The Las Vegas Strip generally accounts for around half the state’s revenue, and in November its casinos reported a 9% increase in gambling revenues to $495.3 million. This figure includes slot revenues increasing by 2.6% to $261 million and baccarat winnings rising by a massive 29.3% to $89 million.
However, despite the encouraging figures, baccarat was seen as being pivotal in driving up The Strips’ takings, while slots revenue is typically viewed as a better indicator for signs of recovery in the wider nongaming sector. As gaming analyst Chad Beynon from Macquarie Securities explains:
“While the headline growth rate of 9 percent is strong, we again would have liked to see a more broad-based growth story across all segments. In particular, the fact that slot handle was basically flat year-over-year was somewhat disappointing given the positive trends over the past two months.”
The disappointment was highlighted by the fact that November should have been a particularly busy month, with the WSOP Main Event Final Table having taken place, as well as the Manny Paquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez fight on November 12th.
Nonetheless, it is believed that the second consecutive month of rising gambling revenues for the Las Vegas Strip confirms positive sign of recovery for the whole state going into 2012. This was widely reflected across the board, with most of the gaming areas posting increases in revenue including Boulder Strip up 12.44% to $71.635 million, Washoe County up 1.95% to $53.5 million, and Mesquite up 4.18% to $9.868 million.
Just North Las Vegas was down by 4.7% to $23.075 million, and Laughlin down 1.87% to $38.609 million.
Overall, the State of Nevada saw a  15.2% increase in the amount of gambling taxes it collected for November, to $57 million. In addition,  Nevada gambling is currently showing a 2.9% increase in revenues for 2011, with just December’s results left to collect.