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Strip casinos see 6.3 percent drop in winnings
Thursday, July 9, 2009 | 9:08 a.m.
Sun Coverage
Beyond the Sun
CARSON CITY – Casinos along the Las Vegas Strip won $480.8 million in May, making it the 17th straight month of a fall in revenues.
The state Gaming Control Board said the win, before taxes and business expenses, dropped by 6.3 percent at the 41 casinos on the Strip compared to May 2008. But it ended a seven-month string of double-digit declines.
Positive signs were the wins in baccarat, up 38.5 percent, roulette increased 24.1 percent and the penny slot machines inched up 4.1 percent.
The board reported the win statewide dropped to $889 million, down 8.34 percent from the same month of a year ago. And that compares to May 2008, when gross win was down 15.2 percent.
And the past fiscal year the state has collected $655.4 million in taxes from the casinos, a decrease of 15 percent.
Frank Streshley, chief of tax and licensing for the board, said “We thought it would be a lot better.”
Streshley said the weekends are improving with the volume of visitors increasing but the weekdays are still slow.
May was a strong special events month. There was the Pacquiao-Hatton fight and concerts by Jimmy Buffet and Dave Matthews and an Ultimate Fighting Championship event, all at the MGM Grand. The Strip accounts for more than half of the gaming business in Nevada.
Win at the downtown Las Vegas casinos fell to $43.2 million, a 10.6 percent drop and the 11th straight month of a decline.
For the fourth straight month, casinos in North Las Vegas posted an increase, up 2.8 percent to $20.8 million. That’s due in part to the Aliante Station casino that was not open in May 2008.
The board said clubs on the Boulder Strip reported $64.4 million in gross win, up 10.3 percent. The increase is due to the opening in March this year of the M Resort, which is included in those numbers.
Casinos in Laughlin won $41.2 million, down 15 percent; Mesquite clubs had $10.4 million, off 22 percent, and the clubs in the balance of Clark County reported $86.5 million, down 19.5 percent.
On the Strip, winnings in the 21 games fell 12.2 percent; craps was off 20.7 percent and the sports pool was down 54.6 percent. In April the sports pools were down 31.1 percent.
The 49,368 slot machines on the Strip had $226.1 million in win, a decline of 16.7 percent compared to the same month of a year ago.
For the 23rd straight month, casinos in Washoe County reported a decline. The win fell to $76.4 million, off 8.6 percent.
The board said South Lake Tahoe clubs won $18.1 million, down 25.5 percent. Elko County clubs reported gross win of $23.8 million, down 5.6 percent and the Carson Valley area had $9.4 million in winnings, off 16.2 percent.
Discussion: 37 comments so far…
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Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Not surprised. We've taught people for seven years now how NOT to gamble in Las Vegas, via Shows, Shopping, Restaurants, etc. Keep your eye on the ball casino executives and marketing people and we'll be fine. We're here in the middle of the desert to gamble, not to try and turn it into Rodeo Drive East!
i've said it a thousand times.
they need to get rid of all those cheesy, unused slot machines and put in "dave and buster's" style video game machines where you could bet against other players at racing games, sports games, etc.
Sorry MGH it's not gambling. Gambling implies a chance to win.
this is why:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090709/ap_o...
you bleeding heart hippie liberals have to put down the bong and take of your birkenstocks and join reality.
you can't tax the rich to pay for everything.
The results of all are lower tax revenues from the state. The budget just passed in the legislature will again fall miserably short of revenue as the months go by. For all who thought the Governor was ridiculous in his suggested cuts, wait until the legislature has to cut even deeper because they delayed the needed savings now.
Does anybody remember what were the numbers in Vegas 8 years ago, and then compare them too now.
Last time i visited I got bored of putting 20's into machines. They have killed the goose which lays the golden egg.
Wonder why? Locals are not welcome on the "Strip" and the machines are tighter than a stripped nut!
For goodness sakes!! Like we're supposed to feel sorry for the casinos since they fell short a few million. It still looks like they haven't learned how to get customers back in...They should read the comments here once in awhile.
stevem:
Why can't we tax the rich? And what does this have to do with gambling in Nevada?
And not all of us "hippies" are liberals nor do we wear those ugly Birkenstocks.
I'm coming this weekned I wont drop a dime at a strip casino
+1 for stevem: as much as I hate the rich and their greed, those people sign many of our paychecks. The harder you hit them the more trouble they will have signing those checks. Besides the more you tax them the more ways they find around paying taxes. We need to dump the current system and impose a national sales tax or a flat tax.
This is just another example of the bubble bursting. The revinues are down from their bloated boom fed highs. But I bet they are still higher than they were in 2001. If they all hadnt thought the good times would never end, they probably wouldnt have blown so much money on new properties, upgrades, and those nifty condos. They made a big mess and now revs. are down and bills are pilling up. The best part is that us little guys are the ones who suffer.
the winnings will drop next month and the month after that; the locals are tapped out and the visitors are going else where, and life will go on.
Very astute observations dipstick, cisko213 and danutz.
The Strip needs to find something else to hang on to or join the rest of us on planet Earth.
Rocco, Downtown is still the best bang for your buck!
I've been visiting Vegas since 1979...the town has changed a lot since then and it has always rolled with the economy. Times were good...now times are bad. But it is still a great place to visit and have fun...and the deals have never been better...and I will be back in September for NFL Kickoff...VIVA LAS VEGAS!
the rich have been taxed to much, what country have you guys been living in. bush took care of his fat cat buddies at the expense of normal folks who come here and made this city. these poor little rich people have shipped all the good jobs overseas and gamblers have less disposable income. lakeys for the rich are out again, they just love to divide us over stupid issues that they don't live by. wake up america.
As you sew,so shall you reap! Im so sick of hearing there crying about looseing money on the strip. They did it to themselves,but the people that take care of their guests are takeing it up the tail pipe! The mob gave them the plans on how to take peoples money,and they dumped them in the trash and said, naw we ll do it our way!!! Hence the problems we now face! Give me a strip property for 90 days and i ll have your guests comeing to my place as well!
Haven't stayed on the Strip since the 90s. Room and show prices became laughable, lines for overpriced restaurants and buffets were horrible, customer service hit the gutter, and overall gambling became robbery. Been staying off-Strip ever since. Took a drive again in May down the Strip and the sidewalks look to be about 12" wide with hundreds of people in any one area trying to get around each other. No, thanks. The Strip has made itself completely unattractive to me. And that City Center nightmare isn't helping. That is one huge eyesore.
The off-strip casinos have become so tight that I've reduced my bankroll each vist, trip lengths shortened, and overall visits down from three visits a year to one and I may start going every other year. The entertainment value is practically gone. I lose more when machines are loose than tight because I'm having fun and will play longer. $20 in less than five minutes doesn't entice me to stay and play. Just make me feel taken.
rumrunner...the words are sow, their and losing.
Oh, and coming.
My husband and I came out here 4 years ago so he could teach. (He came out of retirement to do so)
We were amazed at how tight all of the slots were out here. We are die hard slot players. Before moving out here we would gamble at a casino in Delaware. It was a truly rare event NOT to come home winners. Out here it's a rare event if you DO win!!! For God'sake give people a break and loosen the machines. If you had even one or two casinos that were loose,people would flock there. You could easily make it up by the volume of happy gamblers. If you'd spend less on those 99 cent store items you "give away," and more on letting the players win you'd be a lot better off.
Catch 22 and the casinos are going the wrong way. Prepare for income taxes. 6:5 blackjack and tighter slots. Two virtual monopolies on the strip. Who is overseeing this disaster? Sure, the economy has an impact. But like a bad restaurant we don't go back for a long time, if ever, when we've been taken. Make the casinos post the payback of the slots. People will probably play for a 92% payback. Keep it a big secret and they'll assume the worse. It bothers me that the gaming regulators and state goverment are caving in to those who can profit and monopolize at the expense and services of the rest of the state.
How does anybody have a bankroll for gambling these days
.
..
...If memory serves me well, yesterdays figures said visitors were down 5.9, today's drop is down 6.3 which really isn't bad. Ten percent is a killer so lower room prices and specials are bringing the small guy back..
...The convention business is down 25 per cent and really hurts all of us connected to that phase of the Las Vegas scene. Stagehands, Teamsters, wait persons, bars, transportation, hotel people, vendors, musicians and electricians are all feeling a thinner wallet.. Let's hope losing less money monthly will soon turn around and we see a positive month very soon and keep a good attitude and view this recession as a learning experience for a better financial future all around.
The casinos and hotels can go fly a kite. They give nothing and want your patronage. I only use those ratholes to go to the movies. I remember George Maloof gave a $50,000 gold and diamond bracelet to Paris Hilton, that's retail so the thing probably cost 5000. but he never gives us squadoosh!
Why thank you Mr Helpy Helperton denro.Keep to the issues.Im happy with myself!How about you?
Positively blissful, rummy.
When give-and-take became take-and-take, I stopped giving.
First of all, I am not sure I even believe the numbers quoted here. If the total take is down 6.3% from the previous year (which isnt that big a deal), then how come later in the article the take from table games and slots are quoted as having dropped more than 10%. The math doesnt make sense !!
Second of all, if you analyze the "tightness" issue on the slots, remember that overall the casinos only take about 6% of what you put in (call it a commission for providing the space and machines), leaving 94% to be distributed amongst the players. Not everyone can win every time, by the way, as one person suggested would happen at the other casinos he/she went to in other cities !!
Its so hard to analyze these numbers and get the real skinny. When I read the first few sentences of this article, I would be led to believe that gaming revenues were falling each month for 17 months, when in fact they only fell 6.3% FROM THE SAME MONTH LAST YEAR.
It would be nice if the writers of the articles were a bit more statistics-savvy and would write so we can really understand whats happening.
All these numbers are cooked. The Casino's claim they are down 6.3% but I pretty sure they are up 100+% from what they were years ago. Cry Cry. Now they can cry broke save their money and not have to pay anybody except them selves. That's part of the Corporate way to do things. It's just like the oil industry. When oil is high they claim they don't make money because the cost of a barrel is so high and they have to buy it to refine it. Then when the price is low they cry demand is low and nobody is buying. Forget that most oil companies drill and retrieve their own oil and they usually pass their prices to the pump.
first thing...
the link i had in my post doesn't go the same story as it did when i first posted it...so...that link makes no sense.
the problem with taxing the rich for everything and how it relates to gaming is this...
and this hurts, but it's tough love...
the "rich"...whatever that means...don't usually have any larger income vs. bills ratio than people who aren't rich.
if someone makes $20 per hour...they have a $20 per hour lifestyle.
if someone makes $200 per hour...they have a $200 per hour lifestyle.
they both probably have 25% of their income that goes to housing, both have 25% for their car, etc.
when you say "this person MAKES more money...so let's take a larger percent of his income" you are reducing the amount of money that person can spend in las vegas.
instead of spending $500 for a weekend here, they might only spend $400. that $100 doesn't seem like much, but could be a dress they don't buy at bebe, a show they don't go see, etc. and that ultimately means less sales, and less need for employees...so stores like anchor blue shut down, and circuit city shuts down, and fountainblue can't sell their condos so they can't finish it so construction workers don't work, so they can't go to the corner bar and have a drink, so they can't tip a waitress, now she can't go to the moves, etc.
our economy is in the tank. we need LESS taxes to encourage expansion, get companies to hire people, etc. and instead we have obama that wants to tax "rich people" even more.
it's just stupid.
lol, casinos paying back 94% on slots.
The profits are down because the pay scales the executives are being paid. What the average person doesn't realize it that corporate financial statements are misleading. They base the downward trend on expectations and compare against revenue not cost.
I use to work for a large corporate company and when the revenue wasn't meeting expectations we'd buy work to increase the revenue knowing that we'd take a loss on the work but our executives would make it up by hitting the expectation in the market thus increasing the stock value and their stock options would be paid at the higher traded price. At the end of the year or when reporting time came to SEC we'd take a goodwill write down for losses and the market always reacted in a positive way and their stock would increase even more.
Look up the executive pay and their stock options, you find by typing "company name 2008 proxy statement" and then compare the pay for years, they're getting rich.
Now look up how stock is traded, Class A, B, and C. Consumers are not treated the same as corporate and executives. We're taking in the shorts and they're sucking us dry. When they whine, they want to screw us over again. It is all about GREED and screwing US the people.
The media or newspapers will never speak of this, they're all wanting money from us the consumer as well and they want corporate advertising dollars. I call this a conflict of interest with truth and justice.
oh, and don't get me wrong.
i'm not saying rich people can't be evil.
remember about 4 months ago when all the casino owners and executives were saying "hey, locals! we LOVE you...come visit us and help the economy"?
these are the people that fired and laid off your family, friends, and neighbors that were making $15 per hour so THEY could still make $150 per hour.
no local should ever drop a single dollar in a slot machine.
I know I'm getting of subject here, but Michael Jackson was renting a house for $100,000 a month and yet Los Angeles wants people to chip in on his funeral. These rich people are crazy. He paid rent for a house per month more than I make a year.
Obama just gave $50 billion to GM to go bankrupt and come out squeky clean in the end. Banks have gotten billions but I don't see any comming to us. AIG wants to fullfill millions in bonuses it says it's execs deserve. I'm done with this column. Onto the next article.
haha!
ummm...
i have a feeling not too many "rich" people were at michael jackson's funeral...or gave a crap about it other than the "this is good publicity" celebrities.
Local casino owners and their executives have a different spin on things. After a few wins, and no consideration for the losses, Station Casinos has decided they don't want our business and will make no offers to entice us to play there, i.e. multiplyers, offers, invites, give aways etc. We are hard playing, cash carrying people. Guess they are holding their own and don't need everyone's money, just the losers. For a casino about to file bankrupcty, maybe they should reconsider their game plans. Shame on these executives, you know who you are.
Sorry, rumrunner, you are right. I WAS being nit picky.