Nevada casinos win record $9.46 billion in fiscal 1999-2000

CARSON CITY, Nev. - Helped by three new megaresorts in Las Vegas, Nevada casinos won $9.46 billion from gamblers in fiscal 1999-2000 - an 11.3 percent gain over the previous year and the strongest growth in a decade.

The percentage gain is the highest since the start of Nevada's megaresort boom, which produced a 10.5 percent increase in fiscal 1989-90, the Nevada Gaming Control Board said Thursday.

GCB spokesman Frank Streshley said a key factor in the latest statewide percentage jump was the 1999 opening of the Paris, Mandalay Bay and Venetian resorts on the Las Vegas Strip.

Combined, resorts on the Strip won half the statewide total, $4.75 billion for a 15.2 percent increase over the prior fiscal year.

''It was an excellent year,'' Streshley added. ''We hadn't anticipated this because the growth in the early 1990s was on a smaller base. Now, with all the new, major properties, we have a much larger base.''

Elsewhere in southern Nevada, the latest year-to-year increases ranged from barely anything - 0.5 percent - for downtown Las Vegas clubs to a strong 14.5 percent increase for casinos in North Las Vegas.

Casinos in the Reno-Sparks area in northern Nevada had a 7.9 percent win, taking in $1.12 billion from gamblers during the fiscal year that ended in June.

In other major markets, casinos on Lake Tahoe's south shore won $334.2 million for a 2.3 percent increase; and clubs in northeastern Nevada, bordering Idaho and Utah, won $230.5 million for an 8.3 percent gain.

The ''win'' is what's left in casino coffers after payouts to gamblers are subtracted from money that's bet on tables, in slots and on sports events. It's a gross figure, with no operating costs or other expenses deducted. And it's casino revenue only - separate from hotel, restaurant or bar revenues generated by casinos.

A breakdown of the $9.46 billion total win shows that slots accounted for $6.05 billion, or about two-thirds. Quarter slots accounted for 42 percent of all the money won by slots, followed by $1 slots with 25 percent of the win.

Table or ''live'' games accounted for just over $3.3 billion of the total, led by blackjack which accounted for a third of the money. Baccarat accounted for about 17 percent, and craps produced nearly 15 percent of the win.

Sports bets are included in the live game category, and were up nearly 19 percent - an indication that Internet wagering isn't cutting into the action for Nevada's legal bookies.

The fiscal year ended with a healthy June win for the clubs, $747.8 million for an 8 percent gain over the same month a year earlier.

Highlights of the June win included a 5.7 percent jump for downtown Las Vegas, the strongest in nearly two years for that area. Without that, the downtown clubs would have shown a slight decline instead of their 0.5 percent year-over-year increase.

And as a result of that slight downtown gain, every major area of the state had a positive fiscal year. That hasn't happened in 10 years.