Nevada Casinos Up 7.8% to $944.3m in November

The Nevada Gaming Control Board has released its casino results for November, revealing a solid 7.8% increase in revenues to $944.3 million, compared to the $876.2 million that was generated in the same month last year. The state subsequently collected $62 million by way of gambling taxes, a whopping 30% improvement year-over-year.
Without a doubt, Nevada’s slot machine operation proved the main jewel in the crown of its gambling industry, with statewide revenues totaling $596.4 million in November, higher by 13.2% y-o-y. On the other hand, baccarat, usually the game of choice for Asian businessmen, and often instrumental in determining the fate of monthly revenues, suffered a dramatic 14.3% fall in business from November 2014.
The majority of individual markets across Clark County also reported impressive increases in their revenues, with overall business rising by 8.4% compared to November last year. On the Las Vegas Strip, for instance, revenue jumped by 5.4% to $535.6 million, with baccarat down by 14.1% to $109.6 million, but with slots soaring by 15.2% to $265.1 million. Commenting on the results, Wells Fargo Securities analyst Cameron McKnight explained:
“Headline revenues [in the Las Vegas Strip] were in line with our expectations of low- to mid-single [digit] growth, impacted by difficult baccarat comparison from last year; tough operating calendar, with one less Saturday versus the same period last year; offset by timing of collections benefiting slot win and strong event calendar this year.”
Gaming revenue for the Las Vegas Strip now total $6.3 billion for the first eleven months of the year, an amount down by 2.3% compared to the same period of time in 2014. Downtown Las Vegas experienced even more impressive growth, with revenues up 25.2% to $53.7 million, including slots up 30.7%. Meanwhile, North Las Vegas saw its casino revenues jump by 22.9%, Laughlin by 3.1%, and the Boulder Strip by 21.5%, although Mesquite noted a 4.3% fall in revenues.
Nevada’s northern casino markets also enjoyed a positive month, with Washoe County up 3.4% to $61.3 million, Reno up 3.3% to $44.5 million, and South Lake Tahoe up 17.3% to $14.2 million.