Gaming profit rebounded in fiscal 2003 after 9-11

Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2004 | 11:25 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevada's gambling casinos posted profits of $845.3 million in the last fiscal year ending June 30, rebounding from a $33.5 million loss the year before.

The state Gaming Control Board reported today that total revenue -- gaming, rooms, food, beverage and others -- reached $17.9 billion for the fiscal year, which was $676.3 million higher than the prior year.

The rebound from Sept. 11 played a primary role in the increase, said Brian Gordon, a principal with Applied Analysis.

"As we continue to move away from Sept. 11 we continue to see revenue growth and gross gaming revenue pick up," said Gordon, whose firm does consulting work and statistical analysis for the industry. "A lot of that is equating to profitability.

"We're seeing a lot of the hotel-casinos continuing to operate efficiently with relatively fewer employees than pre-9-11 -- less employees per hotel room and less employees per gross gaming revenue dollar, which suggests they're operating more efficiently," Gordon said.

Frank Streshley, senior research analyst for the board, said that while revenue was up, business expenses dropped $331 million. He said the $845.3 million is net income retained by casinos after expenses but prior to deducting federal income taxes and prior to accounting for extraordinary expenses.

The board reported $3.6 billion in EBITDA, cash flow, or a 43.2 percent gain from the prior fiscal year.

The gaming portion of the industry accounted for $9.2 billion gross income; rooms brought in $3.3 billion; food accounted for $2.4 billion of the gross revenue; beverage sales reached $983.6 million and other revenue were $41.9 million.

The 40 casinos on the Las Vegas Strip reported net income of $513.6 million, a 309.6 percent increase from the previous year. For the fifth straight year, he said gaming win on the Strip made up less than 50 percent of all revenue. For the past fiscal year, gaming accounted for 43 percent of the total revenue, which reached $10.4 billion.

Downtown Las Vegas casinos reported total revenue of $1 billion, up 5.7 percent from fiscal year 2002. Net income reported was $23.9 million, up 4,012 percent.

Laughlin casinos reported net income of $15.3 million or down $40.4 percent. Total revenue in this market fell 0.1 percent to $843.5 million.

Boulder Strip casinos reached $100 million in net income, up 149.4 percent from the prior fiscal year. Total revenue rose 6 percent to $946.1 million.

The balance of Clark County reported a decline of 8.8 percent in net income to $66.5 million. Total revenue, however, was up 7.7 percent to $1.7 billion.

Washoe County clubs posted $47.2 million in net income, up 405.5 percent; South Shore Lake Tahoe registered $39.6 million in net income, up 54.9 percent; Carson Valley had $9 million, up 15.1 percent and Elko County had a 0.9 percent growth in net income to $17.8 million.

Sun reporter

Liz Benston contributed to this report.