Gaming revenue in March down on the Strip, statewide

The Gaming Control Board said state casinos won $951.2 million last month, down 3.2 percent from the previous March. For the fiscal year, gaming revenue is down 2.1 percent.

On the Strip, where much of the state’s gaming revenue is generated, casinos won $507 million in March, down 9.6 percent from a year ago. Baccarat revenue there declined 33.7 percent to $67.6 million.

But there was a silver lining when it came to baccarat, for which revenue was also down statewide by 33.1 percent.

Michael Lawton, senior research analyst for the gaming board, said baccarat betting volume was actually up by more than 16 percent from last year. That follows six consecutive year-over-year declines in volume for the game.

“It was just one of those months where the play was there, but with the volatile nature of baccarat, we didn’t hold very well,” Lawton said.

Casinos fared better in the rest of Clark County.

In downtown Las Vegas, revenue rose 4.6 percent from March 2014 to $53.6 million. North Las Vegas had an even better month, with revenue increasing 14.4 percent to $29.3 million.

Elsewhere in the county, Laughlin, the Boulder Strip and Mesquite recorded increases of 4.5 percent, 19 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

But Clark County’s overall gaming revenue of $826.4 million for the month was still down from March 2014 by 4 percent.

March was a good month for Washoe County, where gaming revenue increased 6.5 percent from last year to $64 million. In Reno, revenue rose 6.8 percent to $46.5 million.

The state collected $79.4 million in taxes on March’s revenue, down 5.6 percent from the same month last year.