Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
StumbleGAMING:
Casino win on Strip down 12.2 percent in March
Fifteen-month slump continues
Thursday, May 7, 2009 | 10:24 a.m.
CARSON CITY – Casino winnings on the Las Vegas Strip fell 12.2 percent in March, continuing a string of 15 months of decline.
The state Gaming Control Board reported that winnings at the 41 Strip casinos, computed before expenses and taxes, totaled $456.1 million for the month, a decline of 12.2 percent from March 2008.
The win was down in every other market in Clark County except North Las Vegas which posted a 9.7 percent increase, the second straight positive month for those casinos. That was attributed to the opening of the Station Aliante Casino.
Statewide, casinos posted winnings of $918.2 million, down 11.6 percent. Even Elko County, with its strong mining activity saw a decline of 12.9 percent.
The state collected $74.7 million in taxes from casinos, down 8.6 percent. And for this fiscal year, the collections are off 15.3 percent compared to the prior fiscal year of $652.7 million.
Frank Streshley, senior analyst for the board, said this decline statewide compares with a 1.5 percent drop in March 2008. It’s the smallest decline in the past five month which averaged a drop of 18 percent.
“It’s not a recovery,” said Streshley. “But the market is getting close to or near bottom.” He said word from the casinos is that “We’re starting to see the booking window normalize” and the market is stabilizing.
On the Strip, only roulette posted a strong month, up 21 percent on a $28.6 million win.
Taking the biggest hit were the sports book that had a win of $1.2 million, off 80.9 percent from a year ago. Betting on basketball fell 44.4 percent and baseball wagering was down 990.8 percent.
The board reported slot machine win on the Strip declined 13.5 percent to $257.6 million. Winnings from 21 games dropped to $66.4 million or a 12.7 percent drop. Craps were off 10.1 percent with a win of $25.9 million.
The casinos on the Strip won $33.1 million in Baccarat, down 4.8 percent from the same month of 2008. Streshley said the “hold” percentage or what the casinos kept was 7.1 percent or about 3 percent lower than the 12-month average. “The players are getting luckier in baccarat,” he said.
Clubs in downtown Las Vegas won $55.2 million, off 2.7 percent. Slot machine win rose 1.2 percent but game and tables were off 15 percent.
Casinos in North Las Vegas won $32 million with slot win up 8.9 percent and game and table increasing by 6.4 percent. It was the only market statewide that showed a gain.
Laughlin reported an 8.2 percent decline to $51.5 million. Slot win was off 4.5 percent and game and table win declined 33.3 percent.
The Boulder Strip gaming win was off 4 percent to $79.4 million with slot win off 3.6 percent and game and tables down 9.8 percent.
Mesquite plummeted 29.2 percent to $12.3 million. Slot win declined 31.1 percent and game and tables were off 17.7 percent.
Casinos in the balance of Clark County reported gross revenue of $99.8 million, off 9 percent. Slot win fell 7 percent and game and table win dropped 19.4 percent.
Northern Nevada clubs didn’t do any better.
The board reported that winnings of casinos in Washoe County fell 23.2 percent, the second straight month of a double-digit decline. Washoe County hasn’t posted a gain since June 2007. The casinos reported $64.8 million, down $20 million from a year ago,
Casinos in South Lake Tahoe posted a 34 percent decline to a gross win of $19.6 million.
Carson Valley casinos reported winnings of $8.3 million, down 6.5 percent.
Elko County had casino winnings of $24.6 million, down 12.8 percent and the second consecutive month of a decline.
Discussion: comments so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.
Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.
No trusted comments have been posted.
Post a comment
Most Popular
- Viewed
- Discussed
- E-mailed
- Lid closes on Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar at Town Square
- Strip Scribbles: Season 15 of ‘Dancing With the Stars’ to be all-stars
- Can old Sahara site become a symbol of Las Vegas’ rebound?
- Creators of ‘Absinthe’ unleash ‘Empire’ at Caesars Palace for one night
- Vintage Vegas: rare photos of a desert boomtown
Everything Under the Sun
Blogs
The Kats Report
Lid closes on Pete's Dueling Piano Bar at Town Square (4 Comments)
Elsewhere
Vintage Vegas: rare photos of a desert boomtown
The Kats Report
Nathan Burton still cooking with new Flamingo contract, evening shows, engagement
Elsewhere
Vegas sign a tourist attraction in its own right
The Kats Report
Liza Minnelli's short, sweet show thrills LVH crowd; Dave Perrico's band at South Point a monster
Meet Las Vegas' latest racing sensation: Michael Gaughan
A bit of trickery from would-be magician Joey Fatone (1 Comment)
- Locally owned and independent since 1950; Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, best news website in the nation & DuPont Award for broadcast journalism
Anyone want to blame Harry Reid or Obama for this?
Taking the biggest hit were the sports book that had a win of $1.2 million, off 80.9 percent from a year ago. Betting on basketball fell 44.4 percent and baseball wagering was down 990.8 percent.
990.8 percent?
LOL
Typo
spartacus84 please get a clue. We are tired of these comments. Finally neiman1 has let up. Can;t you see there alot more factors than that. maybe you should take an economics 101 class.
"It's not a recovery," said Streshley. "But the market is getting close to or near bottom."
Another double-digit decline is "near bottom?" Oh boy. This Streshley fellow might be able to find work in the real estate sector next.
Yes, Harry Reid is the reason that people no longer have the disposable income to feed the evil mouths of the 41 Strip Casinos. Oh, and I believe Harry Reid was the "alleged doctor" that provided a banned substance to Manny.
How could we blame harry Reid or Obama. Neither of them went on national television and told Wells Fargo they could spend money on wasteful spending in Las Vegas. Neither of them had anything to do with the cost of fuel run up last year. Neither of them had anything to do with the housing crisis by forcing banks to loan to people that couldn't pay it back. No, Obama and Reid must be clear on all this.
"It's the smallest decline in the past five months which averaged a drop of 18 percent."
Yes, lessening year-to-year monthly declines are certainly the early indicators of a bottom, if not recovery. Forget Economics 101; how about some folks taking a Business 101?
Still, some folks aren't happy unless they are unhappy.
Where do you find out how much a casino pays out a year, does anyone know?
Go ahead James, keeping pumping Las Vegas in your free-lance articles. You need Las Vegas to get "near bottom" to put food on your table. The rest of us non-shills don't. Spare us your "Business 101" nonsense.
How long ago did "bottle service" become common in Las Vegas? Coincidence? I think not.
Hi BugMeTons,
I'm not a local LV resident. What is the bottle service you're referring to?