Stateline continues gaming slide

April was the cruelest month for the Stateline casinos, which posted a 35.4 percent decrease in gaming win compared to the same month last year.

Stateline's casinos, which provide the majority of the county's gaming taxes, reported a take of $15.78 million, down nearly $9 million from April 2008.

Carson Valley and Carson City casinos, whose gaming win is combined, posted a 5.38 percent loss, taking in $8.188 million during the month.

Nevada casinos won $859.4 million from gamblers in April, down 14.1 percent compared with their April 2008 win, according to a state report Friday.

"This continues the trend of people spending less," said Gaming Control Board analyst Frank Streshley. "We're slowly seeing less cancelations, and the weekends are getting stronger. But the midweek market is still a challenge - and the people who are coming are spending less."

Streshley also said the overall amount of money wagered was about the same as it was in April 2008, but casinos were "unlucky in what they held" this April.

"The results were disappointing," he said. "The low hold percentages on table games, particularly baccarat, were a problem."

The Gaming Control Board reported that the win, down from $1 billion a year earlier, marked the 16th month in a row that the clubs reported declines.

The April win was the amount left in casino coffers after gamblers wagered $11.9 billion during the month, including $9.7 billion in slot machine bets and the balance on table games.

For the fiscal year to date, casino winnings total just over $9 billion. That's down 14.2 percent.

The Control Board report also says the state collected just under $52 million in taxes based on the April win. That was down 5.9 percent from a year earlier.