Nevada Gaming Control Board reports $1.282bn gaming win in September

Nevada casinos generated $1.282bn in gaming win in September, a decline of 0.05% from a year earlier, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The regulator said the month was the 67th consecutive in which statewide gaming win exceeded $1bn, and that the total was 21.2% higher than in September 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Las Vegas Strip, the state's largest gambling market, recorded gaming win of $693.5m, up about 0.8% year on year. Clark County overall fell by less than 1% to $1.09bn, while downtown Las Vegas gaming win dropped 7.5% to about $82.5m. Laughlin recorded a decline of 16.8% to $33.8m. North Las Vegas rose 9.2% to $25.1m, and the Boulder Strip was nearly flat at $83.2m.

Jordan Bender, an analyst at Citizens, described the Strip's gaming win as "slightly below our expectations." In a research note, Bender attributed the shortfall to mass table revenue, which dropped 5% year on year after falling 19% in August. According to Bender, companies at Global Gaming Expo meetings and on Boyd Gaming's earnings call spoke of weaker trends around the Las Vegas Valley in August and September, which could mean the summer's strength was only temporary.

According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), September visitor volume came in at just under 3.1 million, a 0.2% gain over the same month last year. Attendance at conventions was 1.8% higher even as the lineup and timing of shows shifted. Kevin Bagger, LVCVA's Vice President of the Research Center, credited the "continued resilience of the convention segment" with helping to sustain the visitor count.

Even with slightly more people arriving, the hotel side of the market lost ground last month. The LVCVA reported that occupancy came in at 78.1%, a drop of half a percentage point. Rooms cost less on average: the daily rate was $178.63, 6.3% below the prior year, while revenue per available room slid about 7% to $139.51. For the year through September 30, the authority counted 28.8 million visitors in total.

Statewide results varied by region. Washoe County gaming win increased 0.4% to $101m, although Reno declined 3.5% to $73m, and Sparks rose about 21% to $17.2m. Elko County gaming win increased 11.7% to $35.2m, and South Lake Tahoe rose 12.5% to $26.5m. Mesquite declined 1.35% to $15.2m.

Slot machines outperformed table games statewide. Slot-machine win rose 1.3% to $948.9m, while table-game win fell 3.6% to $333.7m. Slot-machine coin-in increased 3.1% to $12.8bn, and table-game wagering volume declined 3.8% to $2.8bn.

Craps win dropped 25.1% to $32.6m and blackjack was down 6.3% at $94m. By contrast, baccarat win climbed 11.5% to $58.6m and roulette gained 20.3% to reach $33.6m. Baccarat's hold improved to 9.74% from 8.37% a year earlier even though wagering volume slipped 4.1%. Penny-slot win was 21.4% lower at $113.9m, while multi-denomination machines brought in $777.4m, a rise of 7.6%.

Shelley Newell, a senior economic analyst at the Gaming Control Board, explained that operators are moving away from machines limited to one denomination and one game toward multigame devices with multiple denominations, giving players a wider range of options.

Taxable gaming revenue statewide was $1.264bn in September, 1.5% lower than a year before, though it edged up 0.1% over the fiscal year's first three months. Based on September's taxable gaming revenue, Nevada took in $81.1m in percentage fees from October through October 20, compared with $87m in the same stretch a year earlier, a 6.8% decrease. Fiscal year-to-date percentage-fee collections came to $337.9m, down 2.7%. Gaming win for July through September was close to $3.94bn.