Nevada casino gaming revenue suffered a small dip in October but still managed to top the $1b mark for the sixth time this year.
Figures released Tuesday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board show statewide casino gaming revenue of $1.02b in the month of October, down 3.8% from the same month last year and down a similar slice from September 2019’s tally. For the first four months of Nevada’s current fiscal year, gaming revenue is up 2.5% to $4.06b.
October’s decline was more pronounced on the Las Vegas Strip, where casinos reported revenue falling 5.1% to $538.5m. Downtown Vegas casinos fared far better, rising 7.1% to $68.3m.
Slots revenue was up less than 1% to $699.1m, while ‘table, counter & card games’ fell 12.6% to $322.8m. Most of the major table games suffered serious declines, led by blackjack ($92.3m, -26.5%), baccarat ($56.7m, -25.6%) and roulette ($28.2m, -30.3%), while craps was essentially flat at $31.7m. By contrast, the state’s poker tables saw a noticeable bump, rising nearly one-quarter to $10.8m.
Sports betting provided another positive note, as sportsbook revenue soared 62.1% to $47.9m despite betting handle rising only 2.9% to $544m. For the record, New Jersey’s sportsbooks reported revenue of $46.4m and handle of $488m in October, impressively close to toppling Nevada but just out of reach.
Most of Nevada’s October sportsbook rise came via football, which saw revenue jump 131.6% to $26.2m. Football betting hold hit 7.36%, a four-point rise from October 2018, which saw a rash of favorites cover their spreads.
Nevada’s books also got a healthy bump from Major League Baseball’s World Series and from the highly publicized major wagers placed by Jim ‘Mattress Mack’ McIngvale, which pushed baseball betting revenue up nearly 40% to just under $11.5m. Parlay cards were also strong performers, rising 68.2% to $4.5m.
As for the negative nellies, basketball dipped 5.2% to $3.5m, the ‘other’ category was down nearly 41% to $2.2m while the state’s pari-mutuel race books slid 6.9% to $2.6m.
