Nevada saw a 10 percent decline in gaming revenue for May with the Las Vegas strip posting the worst figures of all. Revenue for the entire state decreased from $984 million last May to $885.1 million this year with the strip accounting for just $475.1 million – down 18 percent compared with the previous year’s $580.4 million. There was no explanation given as to why the figures have decreased and it differs drastically to last month where the number had increased by 6 percent. Month on month it stayed steady and the fortunes of Nevada’s other areas were very different in comparison. Laughlin (up 20 percent), Boulder Strip (up 9 percent) and Clark County (up 7 percent) all posted increases and the overall decrease meant tax collection for the month was down 24 percent to just $52 million.
Atlantic City’s casino businesses didn’t fare much better with the Division of Gaming Enforcement reporting a drop in total casino win of 0.6 percent to $274.7 million. As a part of this slot machine win actually increased by 0.6 percent to $201.6 million. Table game win was the boon as it was down 3.7 percent to $73.1 million. The money paid out in combined tax came to $18.6 million. June becomes another in a long line of months that posted a decrease – albeit a small one.
Ohio’s two casino business locations raked in $417 million in the first full month since opening. The Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland and Hollywood Toledo paid out 87 percent, or $371 million, in winnings in the same month, June, meaning they took home a combined $46 million. $26.1 million of it went to the Horseshoe with $20.4 million to the Hollywood Toledo and one casino business expect explained that it’s all uphill from here.
“I would expect it to get better,” Steve Norton told Businessweek. “You do have some people who are curious about it. What you also have is people getting more and more accustomed to visiting a casino. They like it, it becomes a way to spend their leisure dollars.”
The Ohio Casino Control Commission, who released the results, reported that during the small time in May when they were open the casinos saw $164 million in bets and took $18.8 million after paying out to customers. Tax in the state is 33 percent with it being funneled into a number of different state entities.
