Nevada's game and table down nearly 6% in April, with wins hit by weather

Total gaming win ticked down 1.8 percent in April to USD 936.5 million, a decrease of USD 17.3 million compared to same month last year. Gaming Control Board Analyst Mike Lawton said there have been declines in each of the first four months of this calendar year.

He said the culprit was game and table win that fell 5.8 percent in April. That category is now down 6.4 percent for the calendar year. Baccarat was not the issue last month, as it reported a 2.5 percent increase to USD 66.8 million, the first increase for that game since last November.

“The real reason for this decrease is non-Baccarat game and table win is down 8.2 percent or USD 18.7 million,” Lawton said, as reported by Nevada Appeal. Blackjack win fell 11.1 percent, Craps 12.2 percent and Roulette 23.5 percent. He said the positive note in game and table numbers came from the sportsbooks, which reported USD 27.1 million in win, a 32.7 percent increase on volumes of USD 321.8 million. Slot win was down two tenths (0.2%) to USD 658.8 million.

Lawton said nearly all of the decreases were “miniscule.” The exceptions were the markets most dependent on the weather. South Shore casinos at Stateline and North Shore casinos at Crystal Bay in the Tahoe Basin were both down double digits as bad weather rolled through northwestern Nevada throughout April.

At South Shore casinos total win was USD 13.1 million, a 12.5 percent, USD 1.9 million decrease. In addition to April’s sketchy weather, that market suffered a negative hold in the “Other Games” category. That’s the category where Baccarat play is recorded in Nevada’s smaller markets. Weather is also blamed for the 16.1 percent, USD 250,000 decrease in North Lake Tahoe casino win. The volume of play, as at the south end of the lake, was down significantly.

Lawton said weather likely accounted for the weak performance of Reno-Sparks casinos as well. The county as a whole was up but by less than 1 percent to USD 65.9 million. While Reno casinos were up 3.2 percent, all other markets in the county were down. Washoe is down 1.6 percent for the calendar year thus far.

Carson Valley, which includes valley parts of Douglas County as well as the capital, was also down but by just one tenth of a percent — USD 5,000. That’s the third consecutive decrease for the Carson Valley after 20 consecutive increases. Total win was USD 9 million for the month.

Finally, Churchill County defied the pattern experienced by the rest of the state, reporting a 2.15 percent increase in total win. The 10 non-restricted locations in Churchill reported USD 1.82 million for the month, all but USD 44,000 of that from slot play.