Nevada's table games and slots takings down 4.48% in February

uary’s gaming numbers for non-restricted casinos – those with table games and 15 or more slots – provided by the Nevada Gaming Control Board convey that there has been a state-wide 4.48% drop in gaming win from February of 2016, in which the state took $989m compared to the $945.6m taken for the same period this year.

Despite this loss, the win increased for the fiscal year by 2.71%.

Clark County saw a decline of 4.35% for February and an increase of 2.82% for the fiscal year.

The Las Vegas Strip had a 4.98% drop in February but saw a 3.18% increase for the fiscal year. On the Boulder Strip, February was down 9.12%, and the fiscal year was up 11%.

In North Las Vegas, the February gaming win dropped 7% but it was up for the fiscal year by 1.69%. In downtown Las Vegas, the February win was up 2.22%.

Michael Lawton, a Senior Research Analyst with the Tax and License Division of the Gaming Control Board, comments that the monthly decline was caused by the extra day in February 2016: “February is really a difficult comparison. Last year the state was up 8.1% (in February) and the Strip was up 7.3%. First of all, last year was a leap year and there was an extra day. That accounted for a little over 3% of the difference.”

“Also, Chinese New Year (a big holiday for Asian gamblers) was entirely in February in 2016. In 2017, it occurred mostly in January but with some spillover to February. So definitely, the entire impact of that holiday was in February last year.”

Lawton further comments that a longer view of this year’s revenue could be more helpful: “If you look at the Strip, January and February combined, the win was up 4.4% compared to 2016. And the two months combined, the entire state was up 3.5% compared to last year. It gives you clearer picture of what happened.”

The impact of the calendar showed up in both the February table game and slot wins: “Slot win was $581.7 million, a decrease of 4.6%. But like I said, your one day short. The 4.6% decrease can be explained by missing that one day. On the table game side, the win was $363.9 million, a decrease of 4.3 % or $16.5 million.”

“Baccarat contributed to that. There was a decrease in the baccarat win. It was $98.4 million, down 19.3% and again, that decrease can be attributed to Chinese New Year being entirely in February of last year but not this year. So the Chinese New Year and leap year would explain why were down this month.”

“If you look at the longer trend, say eight months of data, it’s all positive. Overall, things are trending in the right direction.”