Nevada casino gaming revenue topped the $1b mark in May, as customers flooded Las Vegas for the boxing tilt between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao and the Rock In Rio music festival.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported May’s statewide casino gaming revenue hit $$1.003b, up 3.3% from the same month last year. Revenue on the Las Vegas Strip rose 1.4% to $601.2m. For Nevada’s fiscal year to date, which concludes at the end of June, gaming revenue is down 1%.
For a change, Nevada’s gains came despite a significant decline in baccarat winnings. Baccarat revenue was down 36.4% to $109.8m on a hold of 11.5% as handle fell 7.4% year-on-year. It should be noted that May 2014’s $172m baccarat win and 16.5% win rate was something of an outlier.
Blackjack was the month’s top table game earner, rising 27.4% to $122.7m. Craps was well back at $43.7m (+33.8%) while roulette earned $33.1m (+0.6%). The rest of the table tallies are as follows: three-card poker ($13.3m, +3.3%), mini-baccarat ($9.8m, +1.1%), pai gow poker ($8.9m, +9.9%), let it ride ($3.4m, +4.9%), keno ($2.3m, -5.9%), bingo ($1.6m, +67%) and ‘other’ games contributed $16m (+20.6%).
Slots revenue rose 8% to $601.4m. Poker revenue (including the state’s two remaining online poker sites) rose less than one percent to $10.3m.
The Mayweather/Pacquiao tilt gave a significant lift to Nevada sportsbooks, which reported revenue up 73.3% to $19.8m. The state’s “other” sports betting category, which includes boxing, rose 345.7% to a record $8.2m on a hold of 10%. Baseball also had a good month, rising 29.3% to $10.7m, while basketball fell 1.3% to $2.8m. Parlay cards rose 168% to $219k while laggard football bettors cashed in $2.1m worth of winners. The state’s race books fell 9.9% to just under $6m.
