Nevada casino winnings up for first time in 23 months

Revenues this fiscal year, from July through November, were down 7.9 % from a year earlier. State revenues collected in December based on the winnings topped us$ 57 million, up 28.3 % from $44.4 million in December 2008. Taxes paid on casino winnings account for about 30 percent of the state general fund.

The control board said the state collected us$ 313.2 million in the first six months of the fiscal year, down 5.1 % compared with July-December 2008.

More than half of the November 2009 revenues came from the Las Vegas Strip, where casinos won us$ 473.8 million, up 8.3 % compared with November 2008. The Strip is down 5.5 % for the fiscal year through November, gambling regulators said.

Analyst Robert LaFleur of Susquehanna Financial Group said the improvement came against a relatively easy comparison, as Strip casinos won 15.8 % less in November 2008 than in November 2007.

But LaFleur said high-end casinos were helped by greater volumes of baccarat play. "The strong baccarat numbers benefit properties such as Wynn, Venetian, Bellagio, along with to a lesser extent some of the other (MGM Mirage) properties like the MGM Grand and Mirage," LaFleur said.

Revenue at Downtown Las Vegas casinos was down 1.3 %, while North Las Vegas and the Boulder Strip saw double-digit increases.

Clark County, which includes Las Vegas and is Nevada's largest county, was the only county in the state with a year-over-year increase in monthly revenue.

In Northern Nevada, revenues in Washoe County were down 4.2 %, while revenues slid more sharply in South Lake Tahoe, Elko County and Carson Valley.