Nevada casino revenue down 6 % in June

The June results mark the second straight monthly decline and the third in the past four months, said Mike Lawton, senior analyst with the control board.
The state of Nevada collected us$ 38 million in taxes based on the June revenue, which was down 27 percent. Collections don't necessarily coincide with the amount of winnings reported because a lot of bets are made on credit and casinos don't pay taxes on those until gamblers pay up.

Las Vegas Strip casinos, which account for more than half of statewide gambling revenue, reported winnings of us$ 483.7 million in June, a decline of 4.5 percent. Downtown Las Vegas brought in us$ 33.7 million posting a 13 percent drop.

Washoe County casinos had a much better month. Reno brought in nearly us$ 50 million, up 9.4 percent up from the same time last year, while the county overall saw a 7.3 percent jump in winnings. South Lake Tahoe revenue of us$ 17 million was up 17 percent.

The "win" is what was left in casino coffers after gamblers wagered us$ 11.2 billion in June playing cards, table games and slot machines. A breakdown shows us$ 8.7 billion was bet at slot and video machines and us$ 2.6 billion on table games. While the volume of play was up statewide, luck was on the side of gamblers, who beat the house more than in June 2011. On the Strip, the us$ 3.1 billion wagered on slots in June was down us$ 63.2 million.

"We've had three consecutive declines for slot volume on the Strip," Lawton said. "We're a little concerned about that. "We've lost some steam this quarter, for sure."

For the fiscal year that ended June 30, total casino win totaled us$ 10.7 billion, up 0.7 percent from the previous year. Wagers amounted to us$ 139.7 billion, up 0.9 percent. Betting on slots rose 1 percent to us$ 107 billion, while table game wagers inched up 0.6 percent to us$ 31.8 billion. While meager, the slot volume is the first increase reported since 2007, Lawton said.

The report also noted casino markets that cater more to locals than tourists saw modest gains, suggesting those areas may be starting to see a stabilizing of the economy.