Nevada casino gaming revenue tumbled in March after the governor ordered the closure of non-essential businesses to limit further spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Figures released Wednesday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board show statewide gaming revenue of $618.1m, a 39.6% decline from the same month last year and a slightly larger decline from February 2020’s result. For the fiscal year-to-date, revenue is down 2.2% to $8.75b.
Predictably, the decline was most evident on the Las Vegas Strip, where casinos reported revenue falling 45.7% to just under $300m, while Downtown Vegas dipped only 26% to $43.4m.
March slots revenue fell 30.6% to $468.7m, while the ‘table, counter & card games’ category took a harder hit, falling 57% to $149.4m. Blackjack won the table crown despite revenue falling 59.2% to $44.2m, barely edging out baccarat ($43m, -19.7%). Craps ($14.4m, -58.6%), roulette ($13.5m, -67.6%) and poker ($6.5m, -39.4%) rounded out the table top-five.
The biggest decline came via the state’s sportsbooks, which saw their revenue fall 95.5% to just $1.45m, barely more than the $1.31m (-65%) brought in by the state’s racing books.
Betting revenue suffered from a double whammy of the early suspension of major sports events – including the NCAA March Madness basketball tourney – and a meager win rate of just over 1%. Betting handle fell from nearly $597m in March 2019 to just over $141m last month.
The NBA was still active for part of March, which resulted in basketball betting revenue of nearly $5.9m, while hockey added $545k and ‘other’ sports – boosted by Nevada’s new eSports betting markets – contributed $382k. But football bettors cashed in over $5.3m worth of winning tickets, inflicting 57.5% more damage than the lazy sods did in March 2019.
The state recently began breaking out separate mobile betting stats, and mobile accounted for 63% of March handle, up from 49% in February, as bettors lost their ability to visit the state’s retail books.
Nevada’s casinos have been furiously prepping for their eventual reopening, and Gov. Steve Sisolak announced Tuesday that he would be unveiling more details of the state’s ‘Roadmap to Recovery’ on Thursday.
