Nevada casinos enjoyed a slight gaming revenue decline in November, while the state’s sportsbooks saw their winnings cut down by more than half.
Figures released Thursday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board show statewide casino gaming revenue of $930.4m in November, down 1.5% from the same month last year. The decline was more pronounced on the Las Vegas Strip, where casinos reported gaming revenue down 3.5% to $517m.
The state’s slot machines did their part to keep the month positive, nudging up 1.5% to $605.2m. Blackjack tables also held up their end, rising 12.9% to $95.8m, while roulette surged 38.9% to $33.6m and craps rose 9.4% to $29.1m. But baccarat let the side down, falling 22.8% to $84.8m.
The state’s sportsbooks enjoyed their 40th straight month of coming out ahead of punters, despite their overall take falling 55.2% to $19.2m. Overall betting handle was 500.6m, down 10.2% from November 2015’s record performance.
The decline came as a result of a truly lousy football betting month, in which revenue fell 77.1% to $6.6m thanks to a dismal 2.1% hold. Football betting handle was $316.5m, down around one-fifth from the same month last year. The decline was attributed in part to betting whales apparently finding other shiny toys to distract themselves during the month.
Basketball wagering was also in negative territory, falling 15.4% to $6.9m on a 5.75% hold. Parlay cards performed even worse, falling 87% to just $665k.
Those declines spoiled an otherwise stellar month for baseball wagers, which spiked nearly 1400% to $2.9m thanks to a 15.6% hold. ‘Other’ sports also soared, rising 217.2% to just over $2m, while the state’s pari-mutuel racebooks saw revenue jump nearly one-third to over $4m.
Back on the casino floor, the rest of the state’s table games finished as follows: three-card poker ($10.2m, -15%), poker, including online poker ($8.9m, -0.6%), pai gow poker ($8.2m, +23.9%), mini-baccarat ($7.3m, -1.2%), let it ride ($2.5m, +2.3%), keno ($2.3m, -5%) and bingo ($1.2m, +7.6%), while the ‘other games & tables’ category improved 8.6% to $16.2m.
