Nevada casinos posted a 7.9% gambling revenue gain in March, reversing a two-month streak of declines. Figures released Tuesday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board show revenue of $982.1m, the best monthly total so far this year. Things were even better on the Las Vegas Strip, where revenue gained 10.9% to $560.7m.
Credit for stopping the rot goes to improved table game earnings, which saw blackjack usurp baccarat for top table tally. But the state has a ways to go before breathing easy. Three months into 2014, total table game revenue is down 8.2% over the same period last year, while slots is off less than 1%.
Nevada’s three state-sanctioned online poker sites reported revenue of $926k in March, a 12.2% boost over February, the first month in which the state separated online numbers from the land-based poker column. In the 11 months since the first state-regulated site (Ultimate Poker) launched, total online poker revenue has reached $9.4m. Total poker revenue, including land-based action, earned $10.4m in March, up 0.5% year-on-year.
Despite baccarat revenue rising 40% to $101.8m, blackjack earned top honors with $105.9m (+6%). Craps was well back at $42.1m (+36%), with roulette earning $30.7m (+-6.5%). The rest of the table games ranked as follows: three-card poker ($15.2m, +0.5%), mini-baccarat ($10.6m, +25.7%), pai gow poker ($9.7m, +1%), let it ride ($3.8m, -8.7%), pai gow ($2m, +35.4%), keno ($2.3m, -13.1%), bingo ($1.2m, +16%) and other games ($14.6m, +8.9%). Slots revenue rose 3.8% to $613.7m.
Nevada’s race books earned $5m in March, essentially flat year-on-year. Sports betting revenue fell 5% to $12.8m, brought down by bettors cashing in $9.9m worth of football futures wagers. The annual NCAA March Madness tourney helped push basketball betting handle to a record high $343.5m, but the bookies could only manage a win rate of 5.6% – the second lowest hold since 2004 – pushing roundball revenue down 9.7% to $19.4m.
