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While the major casinos are doing a bang up job attracting visitors to Las Vegas with big discounts and other perks, their slot business continues to suffer. And that's bad news for Nevada, where slots make up about two thirds of the state's gaming revenue.
Today's monthly report from the Gaming Control Board reveals that slot players wagered $1.1 billion less on slots in July than the same month a year ago. On the Strip, slot volume was down half a billion dollars.
Those pennies can really add up.
Slot volume fell 12 percent in July compared with a year ago, the worst drop in the past seven straight months that slot spending has been on the decline and the latest sign that these figures are worsening. By comparison, slot volume fell 10 percent in June.
These numbers may bottom out, especially with gas prices on the decline. In July, drivers were paying more than $4 per gallon.
The July figures weren't skewed, as some months have been, by a holdover in slot revenue generated in a previous month included in the following month's numbers.
While the slot numbers are worrisome for casinos, table game play, strangely enough, bucked the downward trend.
On the Strip, table game volume was up 5 percent. This held true for high end as well as typically lower end games: Baccarat play was up 15 percent and blackjack was up 7 percent. Yet Strip casinos won 21 percent less from table game players in July because players were especially lucky, winning a greater percentage of wagers than is typical.
Had those win percentages at the tables been more typical, the overall decline in revenue would have been much less, Wall Street analysts said.
It appears that casinos, which haven't been able to entirely remove risk from the gambling business, need all the luck they can muster.
You can bait a big player with lots of money with discounts and free tickets, but the 2/3rds of our revenue that comes from slots comes from the little guys. They are broke. We need lower energy costs or they can't come back.
email link
http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm...
Las Vegas
Lloyd D. George Building
333 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Suite 8016
Las Vegas, NV 89101
Phone: 702-388-5020 / Fax: 702-388-5030
neiman1, I fail to understand what Senator Reid has to do with energy costs. The price of gas that we use in our cars in influenced by several factors, but primarily supply and demand - the basic rule of economics. Demand has been increasing steadily over the years, mainly because of the expanding economies of China and India (more cars on the roads). We are at the point of peak oil - the cheap, easy-to-get-at oil has been used. Your efforts would make more sense if you tried to persuade Senator Reid to convince the casinos to loosen up the slot machines.
Neiman1 - give it a rest - please ........Your constant harping is only serving to hurt your agenda not help it - like the boy who constantly cries 'wolf'....pretty soon no one listens at all.
I recommend you guys really, and I mean really, concentrate on entertainment. You don't have the Vegas of old with cheap food and rooms.
We all still spend money on entertainment and because yours is the most expensive due to the fact you're away from our homes, offer something we can't get at home.
I hope my suggestion is helpful as my family has always enjoyed visiting your city, but we too need more reason to return often.
I have read many posts on several websites regarding Las Vegas that really ring a bell. The posts lament the fact the Vegas has gone the way of night clubs, restaurants, and shows as there main events. No longer are there cheap meals, and hotel rooms for the average Joe; the customers that made LV what it used to be. The slots are now so tight they squeak; the room rates are more than they are worth; the service is almost non-existent. We have visited Vegas for years but our last trip was Aug 07 and we do not intend to come back anytime soon. You would think these, so-called educated CEOs would understand that their biggest problem is not the economy as much as it is the fact the average person knows he's getting ripped off and is not gambling as much We expect to lose our money on the slots, but not being able to play for any length of time on your money is outrages. The sucking sound of the money leaving your pocket is almost audible. We decided to stay home this year since some of our friends who just returned from a visit stated is even worst this year. We are from Atlanta, GA and have several casinos that are very very nice in Mississippi that we intend to visit. We are sad about Vegas because we really did enjoy our prior visits, but screw me one shame on you screw me twice, shame on me. Oh, I have a new Vegas Slogan for you CEOs: We're Vegas and You're Not. That says it all.
They need to loosen up those slot machines and bring back the old vegas. Where customer service was number one. Back then no one mind losing very much. But with these new casinos, it's all about the bottom line.
Yep - Vegas certainly is geared to cater to the high roller only - always looking to attract their next whale. Until the Vegas of old returns, appreciates the average joe, I fear Vegas will never be quite the same again - I, personally, am getting sick to death of the fancy schmancy 'themed hotel/casino's' and long for the Vegas of olden days. Back then I didn't even care about the money I lost because I was having fun losing it (and eating cheap enough as well). Now it's all about the casino's bottom line - and there is no such thing as customer service (unless you're a whale) and then they'll kiss your ever-luvin arsh........
I agree with the premise of losening up the slots. If people gt more play time on the machines they are more willing to keep pumping into them.
When they lose $50-100 in an hour on quarter slots they are less likely to keep pouring money into machines because they feel they have a snow balls chance in hell of ever seeing any chance of a decent payout. After all gambling is all a state of mind with the gambler HOPING to see that big one but when you dont even see a LITTLE one, they take their money and leave.
Vegas use to cater to the ones who lived here. Cheap food, comps galore and even little jackpots just to keep the locals coming in. After all when the tourists dont come its the locals who keep their doors open.
Now Vegas is catering to the BIG MONEY guys. Its the 6 figure mentality with most casinos now. With decent reasonable housing needed in Vegas why are they putting up condos that are setup for the 6 figure income people? They want to attract the BIG money people and to hell with the locals who try to eek out a few hundred to drop at their casinos.
That is why also the bigger Casino Corporations are building in Macaw and Dubai. There is more money there and they want in on that without bringing them to Vegas. So less tourists here esp. from areas that now have Vegas casinos in there is taking away the tourist trade more and more. So they cannot complain about having less tourists because they are brining it all upon themselves.
If the day comes when casinos have to close their doors because the locals wont support them.....they have no one to blame but themselves.
Locals keep these casinos going and the sooner they come to realize that the better.
just stay away from vegas until these overpaid execs find out how to treat customers.they keep building overpriced mega casinos w/foreign money and are looking for some of us to pay to travel there like we use to and pay for these oversized,overpriced casinos,w/no chance to win at all.slots are tighter then ever.so much for the so called casino control commissions.try conn. foxwoods/moheign sun,great rooms ,great casinos and great areas to visit nearby and fresh lobsters.if we stay away for a few years things will change in vegas,the whales don't pay all of the bills out there,they need us,they just got cocky and forgot how to treat us too.
My wife and I are strictly slot players, who have not come home a winner from Vegas or Atlantic City in almost 2 years. We mainly go to Atlantic City and the slots there are so tight that we leave. I have not seen anyone getting a w2 form in all that time either. For the previous 5 years we were down a total of $700 which I think is great and each year I would have at least one or two taxable jackpots. Last year we were down $4200 and this year $2800, and that will be it because we are not going anymore.
I recently left Vegas after living there for over 2 years. I personally could show were at first, you could play longer and "feel" like you had a chance of winning. And I actually won and few jackpots! (Imagine that) And I now know that this was how I was able to gain an addiction to gambling. But as some of the others have noted, I too did not care that I was losing. I considered it "at best" to be entertainment. At least I played for awhile and won in bonus rounds or got a jackpot every now and then.
But here I am over 2 years later and I can show anybody who would care to see, that I lost over 15k in about a year and a half! But what really killed me, was the following:
1. You could go through a $100 on a penny machine and not see one bonus round. And if you were "lucky" enough to get to the bonus, then you would win little or nothing at all.
I truly understand, that the casinos are there to make money, but it seemed to me, that if you want to remain in business, you need to take of care of the locals. Now the locals may not have to win more than anyone else, but you need to show that, "hey we appreciate you losing your money or we appreciate you throwing away your money".
2. THE LACK OF CUSTOMER SERVICE-Now I normally threw away my money at Station Casions, and mainly at the Santa Fe. As time went on, service became worse and the "showing" of any appreciation that I was local was nearly zero.
AS AN EXAMPLE OF THIS: One afternoon and into the early evening in early June 2008, I went through about $400. Frustrated, mad and everything that comes with just losing, I dedcided that I would use the points, to eat at the buffet.(Eating made me feel better and the of course spend more money. Of course if you gave me more liquor, that worked also.) After I was told that I did not have enough points, I went to talk to a Slot Manager. What was more insulting, was that he recognized me and said my name when he said hi. I told him that I was having a "rough" day and want to be comped for a buffet. I was told that he could not do that, I had not lost enough money! Lets see...I throw away over $400 and they can't give away a buffet?
An ederly gentlemansitting next to me said that they don't do that anymore! He too said that he was a big player on slots, he even showed me his purple player's card. He said that over the last few years, it is getting worse and worse.
Vegas, I loved your climate, the desert and I loved almost every other thing about Vegas, but hey, if you can't show that I existed and say "thanks for throwing away your money with us, well maybe I will come back and visit RedRock, but you can believe you won't see my money in your casinos every again.
The slots have really been geared towards what players have enjoyed over the last five years or so: bonus rounds and big-money bonus rounds. When the slots are designed with these bonus rounds and in order for the machines to remain profitable, you either encounter infrequent bonus rounds with big payoffs or more frequent bonus rounds with smaller payoffs. To offset these bonus winnings, you're going to experience less wins before the next bonus round (through probability not rigging, of course). So what you experience are very quick dips in your winning streaks. If you don't hit a bonus round, you lose fast.
Same goes for video poker with these double-double, triple-double bonuses and the like. You'll see that the winnings are lowered rather dramatically on non-bonus hands due to the double winnings on other hands...same effect...if you don't get a bonus win your money dips FAST because you're being paid much less for the non-bonus hands than you would have on a non-bonus machine. Bigger wins come with bigger risks.
People have obviously enjoyed these types of machines with the draw of a big quick bonus win but the bonus rounds are just too infrequent to make someone with a smaller pocketbook able to endure the dips before a bonus hits. I personally avoid machines with HUGE jackpots compared to the denomination.
As with everything Vegas, if people stop playing these "tight" (big bonus) machines, they'll come up with machines people like, but people need to keep in mind the amount they're betting...even on the penny machines. The casinos quickly discovered people would bet more in pennies than they would in nickels or even quarters because "they're just pennies."
When you read the numerous Las Vegas Bulletin Boards on the Net, people are complaining about the same thing which has been echoed in numerous comments on here. The Casino owners have driven away the low-roller, commoner-type gambler and unless they do something to turn it around, they will continue to suffer losses. Vegas being Vegas and everything that is associated with it used to make the trip worthwhile. Nowadays, most of us in North America can travel to a local casino to spend our hard-earned dollars, so Vegas' gambling attraction is a thing of the past. I live in Canada so why would I spend a fortune on airfare, food, and entertainment to travel to the Gambling Mecca when I can go to a casino 20 mins away from my place? The CEO's and bean counters had better wake up soon and smell the coffee. We, the ordinary gamblers are speaking loudly with our feet. It is up to them if they want us back.
Most of these problems started with Harrah's. I can feel the suits hand in my pocket as I walk in the door.
I don't know anything about penny slots, except that they are there to pay for the bonuses of the man upstairs. I do know a bit about Video Poker though. I can tell you with quite a bit of certainty that almost all the good games have been shelved. These were the games that a local can play day in day out, get their gaming kicks and not have to loose the mortgage over.
Don't even get me started as to what they have done to the BJ games around town. wannabe1indc is right, you're going to get my money...eventually, but at least let me sit here for a while. And for god's sake, feed a $3.00 buffet!