Nevada Casinos Down 8% in July

Nevada Casinos Down 8% To $926m In July

September 2nd, 2013
Author: B. Solomon



The Nevada Gaming Control Board has released its casino figures for July, revealing a 7.97% fall in revenue to $925.7 million compared to the $1.005 billion generated in the same month last year. Breaking the figures down further, table games fell by 18% to $340.1 million, while slots were also down by 1% to $585.6 million.

Despite the overall decline in growth, July’s figure was actually the second biggest this year, with February’s tally of $1.073bn representing only the second billion-dollar month in over four years.

The Las Vegas Strip typically accounts for over half the Silver State’s gambling revenues and in July saw its win fall by 14.4% to $511.4 million, compared with $597.4 million in July 2012.

Commenting on the result, gaming analyst Chad Beynon from Macquarie Securities, said:

“July’s softness on the Strip may come as a slight surprise, although we believe the majority of the weakness was caused by a difficult comparison. We expect Strip revenues to accelerate in the upcoming months given comparisons, visitation trends and upcoming events.”

Interestingly, most of the Strips $86 million year-over-year loss was accounted for by a decline in baccarat revenue, although slot machines, too, declined by 5.5%. Highlighting the precarious trend, UNLV’s Center for Gaming director, David G. Schwartz, commented:

“July 2013 is yet another data point validating the thesis that Nevada gaming is increasingly living and dying on baccarat play.”

As a whole, Clark County saw gambling revenues fall by 9.6% during July, which was then offset slightly by gains reported from the Boulder Strip, Laughlin and the rest of the county.

The state of Nevada subsequently collected $61.2 million in taxable gaming revenues in July, down 9.4% compared to the same month a year ago. For the first seven months of the year, Nevada gambling revenues are currently down by 0.7%.


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