Nevada casino winnings drop 6.1 % in August

The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported that gambling revenue on the Las Vegas Strip dropped 8.7 % compared with last year, with us$ 497 million in winnings. Reno casinos brought in us$ 47 million, or 11.2 % less than last August. Downtown Las Vegas winnings dropped a more modest 4.2 %.

South Lake Tahoe casinos were the aberration, winning us$ 27 million in August to bring in 16.2 % more than one year ago. Only two other jurisdictions increased revenues, the Boulder Strip and a category for casinos not located in Nevada's more metropolitan areas. Each area saw year-over-year monthly increases of more than 3 percent.

The us$ 47.2 million collected in taxes statewide was a drop of 23.6 %. Casino taxes account for about one-third of Nevada's general fund revenues. For the fiscal year, which started in July, gambling revenues statewide were down 1.5 % to us$ 1.75 billion.

Baccarat accounted for the biggest drop in revenues among table games statewide. Casinos statewide won us$ 96.4 million at the game in August, a drop of nearly 40 percent compared with the same month one year ago. Mini-baccarat revenues were down 20 percent.
Slots overall were relatively flat year-over-year, pulling in us$ 584.3 million for an increase of less than 1 percent, as gamblers ditched the nickel and quarter machines and gravitated toward penny slots and Megabucks machines. State tax collections on gambling winnings during the fiscal year were down 4.24 % to us$ 148 million.