Boulder Strip casinos rake in strong revenues for February

A lot of casino operators in Las Vegas are all smiles again after earning their fifth straight month of revenue gains, the longest the state has had in the past six years. For the month of February, casinos posted winnings of $932.2 million, an improvement of 5.7% compared to their numbers a year ago.

Casinos from the Las Vegas Strip contributed to half of that figure, but the biggest gains all came from casinos along Boulder Highway, which saw their revenue figures spike to a tidy 23% in February 2012 compared to the numbers they posted on the same month a year ago.Considering the sorry financial state Nevada has been in, the mere fact that casinos are reporting improved winnings from last year is a victory unto itself. But despite the positive gains, some local casino managers are still wary of the economic struggles gripping the state and the effect it has had on business, saying that the numbers are skewed partly because the Gaming Control Board includes the M Resort, Sunset Station, and Green Valley Ranch in their analysis of the gaming area.

The general manager of the Skyline and Longhorn Casinos, in particular, has said that business has been up and down by five percent every month, although that figure only plays a small part in the casino business’ grander scheme of things.

Barry Lehrer, the owner of Fifth Avenue Pub at Charleston and Las Vegas has attributed the increased revenue to the improving economy, saying that with less people losing their homes, they have more disposable income to use in the casinos.

“When you have extra money, you’re either a drinker, a womanizer, or a gambler,” he said.

Incidentally, Lehrer has posted significant improvements to his business’ bottom line, saying that it’s been up by at least 20 percent in recent months.

The biggest contributor to the increased casino revenue are slot machines, which has always drawn a significant crowd because of the bigger payout possibilities, while table games have also drawn its own sizeable crowd as have crap tables, which continues to play a huge part in the increase of casino revenues.

We’re not about to pretend that this isn’t a big step for casino operations in Las Vegas. Considering the stifling and crippling effects of the economic crisis in the state, we’re pretty pleased to see that the casino business is slowly getting its footing back. After all, people are happier when they have more disposable income to spend on the felt. And if there are more people in casinos, business operators will be all smiles too.