NEVADA ECONOMY: Gaming win heads down - Business

PRINT THIS Popular

Nov. 13, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NEVADA ECONOMY: Gaming win heads down

Observer finds September dip surprisingly low given chatter

By HOWARD STUTZ
REVIEW-JOURNAL

A dealer minds her chips in the MGM Grand's VIP baccarat room. On the Strip, gaming revenues were $525.2 million in September, a 5.17 percent drop from $553.8 million in September 2007, data show.
Photo by John Gurzinski.

You know things are heading south when a 5.44 percent decline in Nevada's monthly gaming revenues during September isn't considered a bad performance.

Given that a few high-end baccarat players took it upon themselves to hit a losing streak during the month, September could have been much worse.

Most Popular Stories

Fraud with Portent

Debt-ridden casino operators told to expect pressure

REAL ESTATE: Las Vegas home prices stabilize as threat of foreclosure flood wanes

GAMING COMPANY EARNINGS: Station drops $455.4 million

THE STRIP: License backed for Aria

GLOBAL GAMING EXPO: Recession over? Don't bet on it

THE STRIP: License approved for Aria

INSIDE GAMING: Missouri outburst hurts Lee, Pinnacle

Credit union changes hands

Union wants insiders to help pull Station from bankruptcy

According to figures released by the Gaming Control Board Wednesday, casinos statewide won $1.001 billion from gamblers during the month, compared with $1.058 billion in September 2007.

On the Strip, the decline mirrored the state; gaming revenues were $525.2 million in September, a 5.17 percent drop from $553.8 million in September 2007.

"While these results are lagging and less significant as gaming operators already reported third-quarter results, we are surprised the decline was not greater based on recent commentary," Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Bill Lerner told investors.

The taxes collected by the state based on September gaming revenues were $63.5 million, a 14.5 percent decline from the $74.3 million collected a year ago.

Gaming Control Board senior research analyst Frank Streshley said two factors helped keep September from becoming a complete disaster. Roughly $70 million in slot revenues generated on the last weekend of August fell over into September because Labor Day was Sept. 1 and disrupted reporting.

Also, baccarat play benefited the casinos. Several free-spending players racked up huge losses. Baccarat win was $76.6 million for September, up 68.4 percent from a year ago. The amount wagered on the game was $571.4 million, an increase of 37 percent over September 2007.

"There weren't any special baccarat events, just some individual strong players," Streshley said.

He could not say which casinos benefited from the strong play.

Without baccarat, statewide gaming revenues would have been off 8.8 percent.

For the first nine months of the year, gaming revenues are down 6.6 percent statewide and 6.5 percent on the Strip. Each of 2008's nine months have shown declines, including 15.2 percent in May and nearly 13 percent in July. On a positive note, Streshley said, September was the first time in five months that gaming revenues surpassed $1 billion.

The carryover of slot revenues into September helped two reporting areas, North Las Vegas and the Boulder Strip, show double-digit increases in gaming win, the only areas of the state along with the Balance of Clark County (up 1 percent) to show positive changes from a year ago.

The Boulder Strip was also helped by the August opening of the Eastside Cannery.

"It was an unfavorable calendar with one less weekend," Streshley said. "Plus, you had the economy, the bailout plan and the stock market took a dive. All that was weighing on consumers."

The win from slot machines statewide was $684.1 million, down 3.6 percent. But the amount wagered on slot machines was $9.8 billion, a 14.2 percent decline from a year ago. The figure was reflective of the drop in consumer spending. He predicted October may have similar issues.

Gamblers lost $306.2 million on table games, down 9 percent from September 2007 while the amount wagered on table games was $2.3 billion, off 5.2 percent from last year.

The news was also bleak in Northern Nevada. Washoe County casinos had gaming revenues of $77 million in September, a 20.5 percent decline from a year ago. Streshley said the figure was the largest single month drop by the Northern Nevada county, which includes Reno, since the state began keeping records in 1984.

Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871.

Share & Save

Leave Your Comment	7 Reader Comments
Terms & Conditions The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The reviewjournal.com does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please notify the web editor. Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 48 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. John wrote on November 19, 2008 01:53 PM: Quality is on SALE in Las Vegas! For instance... National Home Builder with LUXURY homes at AUCTION! Minimum bids starting at $99,000! Previously valued up to $750,000. Auction info offices open now at: 6851 Desert Island Street and 1848 Barrel Oak Avenue. All bidding will be done ONLINE. For details see www.fre.com/295z1 on how to bid. Better hurry.. auction closes this week! Attractive Financing available. REALTOR COMMISSIONS PAID! tw wrote on November 13, 2008 02:27 PM: That's what happens when you hire an MBA to run a company...no common sense. Blue1 wrote on November 13, 2008 10:50 AM: As I've said many times in the past, if the Las Vegas casinos would actually loosen their slots, the word would get out locally, nation-wide and the gamblers would return! As things stand it's almost impossible to win at the slots or video poker in Vegas. Corporations have tighten-up their machines to get every last drop of profit out of them. It doesn't take long for a gambler to figure it out and move on, perhaps to a Indian casino. Then throw-in all the taxes to rent a car at the airport or a room and it's, bye, bye Vegas... The corporation need to give-up the greed and learn to please the customer again like Vegas did back in the 60's. Can anyone remember the phrase from a bye-gone era, "recession proof"? Dave wrote on November 13, 2008 10:19 AM: George, your insights are in complete reverse. The recent drop in gas prices does not even come close to the devastation caused by higher fuel costs throughout the economy. How many people have lost jobs? How about higher prices becaise of higher transportation costs? Yes, gas is cheaper but it does not even balance out the lower standard of living brought on by the onslaught. George wrote on November 13, 2008 09:36 AM: The upside is that gas prices have plummeted recently - that could spur more weekend road trippers which started disappearing when prices went above $3/gal. Air travel is a different story. Jet fuel costs have come down too, but many airlines have already reduced Vegas-bound flights - which means less competition. With less competition, there's less incentive to drop air fares to compensate for lower jet fuel costs. That unfortunately means that airlines won't be helping that much. Unemployment is high, but not high enough to be a bigger factor than travel costs. Virga wrote on November 13, 2008 07:57 AM: They take one billion dollars in a slow month from their guest and wonder why they never return? Keep those ash trays handy. Remember the days when it just looked like you had hit the jackpot but an internal error voided the win? John wrote on November 13, 2008 02:31 AM: I do not think we have seen a big enough economic downturn yet, people most notably, locals still seem to be living a life of free-wheeling by going to events and gambling. that is NOT sound personal finance mgmt. EOS!.