By Sean Whaley, Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada casinos took in $978.8 million from gamblers in October, eking out a modest 1.9 percent increase over the same month in 2011, the Gaming Control Board reported today. It was the third consecutive month of modest gaming wins for the state.
For the 2013 fiscal year that began July 1, the gaming win has increased 4.6 percent.
The October increase was primarily due to a 3.6 percent gain on the Las Vegas Strip, where casinos pulled in $580.7 million. Clark County overall was up 2.8 percent, while South Lake Tahoe posted a 0.8 percent gain with $15.9 million in revenues.
Photo: Conor Ogle via Wikimedia Commons.
But many other markets in Nevada posted declines in October, including Laughlin, down 0.9 percent; Reno, down 6.9 percent; and the Carson Valley area including Carson City, down 5.5 percent.
Michael Lawton, senior research analyst for the state gaming agency, said he was pleasantly surprised by the modest increase because October faced a tough comparison against a strong October 2011, and there were two fewer weekend days in October 2012 than in October 2011.
Helping out the overall win were two Madonna concerts at the MGM Grand on Oct. 13 and 14.
There was also a technical benefit with September ending on a weekend, which meant that some slot revenue from that month was counted in October instead, he said.
Visitor volume in Las Vegas also increased in October, up 2.9 percent to 3.5 million visitors, according to information provided by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Game and table win statewide totaled $364.9 million, down 5.5 percent over October 2011, which had seen a strong gain of 14.4 percent over October 2010.
Lawton said one note of interest was an all-time record win for roulette of $50.8 million for a 174.2 percent increase over October 2011. The previous high was set in December of 2007 when the roulette take was $38.3 million.
Slot win statewide totaled $614 million for an increase of 6.8 percent over October 2011.
“I would say honestly, going into this month, I am pleasantly surprised that with the difficult comp and the calendar, losing the two weekend days – I mean although we did basically get help with the revenue timing – it was a difficult comp and to come in positive is definitely a good sign,” Lawton said.
