Carson City gaming win up 3 percent

In August, Carson City saw just its second monthly increase in gaming win this calendar year, posting a 3 percent increase to more than $9 million.

That is a $259,000 increase over the same month a year ago, and the story was game and table win. Driven by “21,” the Carson Valley Area, which includes valley portions of Douglas County, reported a 63.7 percent increase in Game and Table win. Total volume of wagering was up nearly 24 percent in that category.

While other games were down, “21” recorded a 165 percent increase, an increase of $298,000.

That more than offset the 1.2 percent decrease in slot win for the area even though slots make up the vast majority of total win in Carson.

Statewide, total win was down 3.66 percent to $920.3 million for August. Gaming Control Board Analyst Mike Lawton said the decrease came despite a number of special events in Southern Nevada and the opening of two new casinos including COD Garage in Minden with 267 slots.

The other new opening was the SLS in Las Vegas with 1,600 rooms and 781 slots.

Statewide slot win was down a percent to $522.7 million.

But Lawton said this August was up against a tough comparison since total win increased 11.2 percent a year ago.

Baccarat, the big game on the list, was down 12.4 percent in August — a difference of $24 million. But for the calendar year, Baccarat is up 9 percent over the previous year. It’s down by comparison because the total win in Aug., 2013 was $193.6 million — at that time the fourth highest total Baccarat win in state history.

Washoe County also was down, reporting total win of $72.4 million, 2 percent or $1.4 million less than a year ago. There too, it was up against a tough comparison since win was up 8.4 percent a year ago.

South Shore casinos at Lake Tahoe had a banner month in August. Total win was up 32.6 percent to $28.4 million.

Lawton said there wasn’t a bad number in South Tahoe’s August report. Slot win was up 21.7 percent to $16.9 million, and game and table win rose 53 percent to $11.3 million.

The reason was in the “other games” category, which was where South Tahoe’s Baccarat play was reported. The category was up 185 percent.

But “21” tables helped the total, reporting a 14.4 percent increase that increased the pot by $562,000. Both games and slot volumes of play were up double digits for the month.

Facing a tough comparison from last year, North Lake Tahoe win was down 7.25 percent to $3.3 million. Last year’s win was a 9.5 percent increase. Slot win was down $69,000 on decreased volume of play and game and table win was down nearly 20 percent because the casinos held just 13 percent of the cash played compared to 17 percent a year ago.

Churchill County casinos reported a 9.24 percent decrease in total win for the month, bringing in just $1.62 million. Slot win was off 9.2 percent while games play was down 15.8 percent. Games win makes up just $45,000 of the total win in Churchill with just four of 10 locations offering table games.