Nevada casinos started their new fiscal year off on a downer note.
According to figures released Friday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, statewide casino revenue in the month of July came to $923m, a decline of just under 1% from the same month last year, although the figure was up 11% from June 2015. The situation was slightly worse on the Las Vegas Strip, where revenue fell 2% to $525m.
Total slot machine revenue was up 5.5% to $600m and baccarat was the month’s top table game earner, although baccarat’s $104m take was down 23% year-on-year on a 12.75% win rate. Baccarat handle fell by more than one-third year-on-year, in case anyone needed proof that the VIP slowdown in Macau has also put a serious crimp in the number of Asian whales willing to make the trip to Vegas.
Blackjack ranked second in the table takings, although its $81.4m was down nearly 22% year-on-year. Roulette was up 55.4% to $35.4m while craps fell 15.5% to $30.2m. The rest of the table chart looked like this; three-card poker ($12.1m, +15%), mini-baccarat ($9.9m, +13.3%), pai gow poker ($9.9m, +2.3%), let it ride (($3m, +10%), keno ($2.4m, +3.5%), pai gow ($675k, -34.3%) and bingo ($545k, -41%).
Card games, the category that includes both brick-and-mortar and online poker, reported revenue up less than 1% to $11.5m, while the ‘other games & tables’ category was up 22.7% to $15.9m.
The state’s licensed sports betting operators reported a whopping $1m in revenue, reflecting what is traditionally the worst month for sports betting. For perspective, last July generated just $405k while July 2013 produced a net loss of $548k.
Baseball did its best to keep the numbers respectable, with revenue up 247% to $5.2m. But basketball reported a net loss of $2.8m and ‘other’ sports lost just under $1.7m. Both parlay cards and college football added a mere $147k apiece. Even the state’s race books weren’t immune to the negative trends, falling 6.6% to $4.2m.
