Gaming win down 6 percent in September

Nevada’s gaming win fell 5.96 percent in September to $901.7 million as both Baccarat and “21” fell dramatically compared to the same month last year.

Baccarat win, primarily at Las Vegas Strip casinos, fell $34 million to $82.6 million for the month, a 29 percent decrease.

When added to the $25.2 million decrease in “21” win, that accounts for all of the near $58 million overall decrease from a year ago.

In contrast, the Carson Valley reporting area, which includes valley portions of Douglas County in addition to the capital, saw its win creep up 1.35 percent to $8.57 million. That increase was driven primarily by a 40 percent increase in win by area sports books, nearly all of it from football betting. Carson books won a total of $77,000.

In fact, sports books statewide had their fourth highest ever win, raking in $44.5 million on $450.4 million worth of bets. Of that total, football accounted for $37.3 million in win, third highest ever.

North Lake Tahoe suffered another bad month as win fell 15.4 percent to $2.2 million. The culprit was “21” which accounted for $238,000 of the $259,000 decrease. That puts North Shore casinos down 9.3 percent for the calendar year.

South Shore casinos at Stateline were up 7.8 percent to $23.8 million in September. But Lawton said it was a matter of when slot machine revenues were accounted for this year compared to last and without that factor the total was pretty much a wash.

As in Carson Valley casinos, Churchill saw a huge increase in sports book win, a 1,500 percent increase to more than $39,000. That produced an 80 percent increase in games win.

But since game and table play is such a tiny part of Churchill’s gaming mix, the overall increase was just 1.85 percent to $1.71 million for the month. There are only three locations in Churchill that offer sports betting.

Washoe County casinos reported $65.2 million in total win, a 1.6 percent decrease from a year ago. That is Washoe’s fourth consecutive monthly decrease and the cause this time, according to Lawton, was “pretty much ‘21’.”

Slot win statewide was flat, up just a tenth of a percent of $815,000 to $581 million.

Because of the decrease in Baccarat and “21” win, the Las Vegas Strip saw a 19 percent decrease in game and table win.

“What happened on the Strip is what happened in the state,” said Gaming Control board analyst Mike Lawton.

But he said the fact that slot play volumes increased for the fifth consecutive month is good news because it signals more average players are returning to Southern Nevada.