Nevada casino gaming revenue took a dip in August thanks to a double-digit decline on the Las Vegas Strip.
Figures released Thursday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board show statewide gaming revenue falling 5% year-on-year to $860.7m. The downturn was driven by a poor showing on the Strip, where casinos reported revenue down 15% to $451m.
The state’s slot machines did their part to keep the numbers up, with revenue rising 3.2% to $594m, thanks to a particularly strong showing by penny slots, which rose 8.6% to $257m. But table games were uniformly negative, led by (surprise!) baccarat, which saw revenue slump 42% to $73.6m as win rate fell to 10.3%, down from 14.3% in August 2015.
Other table games fared only slightly better. Blackjack was the top table earner at $81.2m, but that was down 6.6% year-on-year. Craps was down 5.7% to $26.5m while roulette was off 0.5% to $25.4m. Three-card poker ($12.1m, +7.5%) and pai gow poker ($7.8m, +3.6%) managed gains, while mini-baccarat fell 22% to $6.4m.
The state’s sportsbooks lost their positive momentum in August, posting an overall decline of 59% to just $1.9m. Still, it was enough to preserve the books’ 37-month streak of taking in more money than they paid out. Overall betting handle was $188m, up marginally from $185m in August 2015.
While August’s football revenue jumped 123.6% to $3.1m on a 16.9% hold, it wasn’t enough to overcome a sharp decline in baseball win ($987k, -73%). The baseball figure represented the lowest total this year, thanks to a truly miserable 0.66% hold.
Worse, Nevada sportsbooks were in negative territory in two categories. Laggard basketball bettors cashed in $1.1m worth of winners, while ‘other’ sports suffered a 573.5% year-on-year decline, resulting in a net loss of just under $1.2m for the category. The state’s race books weren’t helping, falling 17.2% to $3.6m.
