Gaming win up marginally in October

Faced with a difficult comparison from the same month a year ago, gaming win still managed a near 2 percent increase in October.Gaming Control Board Analyst Mike Lawton said not only were there two less weekend days this October, the win increase a year ago was 8.1 percent.Total statewide win was just over $978.8 million.The Carson Valley Area, which includes the capital and valley casinos of Douglas County, didn’t fare as well, posting a 5.5 percent decrease in win to $7.96 million. In large part because of the two fewer weekend days, Lawton said the problem was simply lower volume of play. But he said both statewide and in local markets including the capital, a very poor showing by sportsbooks contributed to the loss.Statewide, sportsbooks posted a 79 percent decrease in win to just $6.7 million. While volume of play was marginally up, he said casino officials told him they lost over $6 million on football bets as most favorites covered the spread.Game and table win was off statewide by 5.5 percent, again because of a very difficult comparison with October 2011.The one bright spot in those numbers, Lawton said, was the $50.8 million in winnings from the state’s roulette tables — an all-time high and an increase of 174 percent over the same month last year. The previous record for that game was $38.3 million in December 2007.Baccarat win was off by some 18 percent compared to a year ago, adding just $129.5 million to the pot.To measure the impact of that game, total October win without Baccarat would have been 5.8 percent up from the previous year instead of 1.88 percent.Of the Western Nevada markets, only Stateline and Churchill County were up in October.Stateline casinos were up by just under a percent to $15.56 million.Churchill County’s 11 non-restricted locations reported a 4.89 percent increase to $1.8 million.North Shore casinos at Tahoe reported a 22.5 percent decrease in win to $1.65 million. That ends four straight months of increases by North Shore casinos. Washoe County was down 7 percent overall to $59 million.Slots raked in a total of $614 million on $8.9 billion in total play. That is $39.5 million more than a year ago. But Lawton said a significant share of the increase should be attributed to the fact that September ended on a weekend and, therefore, some of that month’s slot winnings were reported in the first week of October.AreaOctober WinPercentage ChangeStatewide$978.8 million1.88%Carson Valley$7.96 million-5.51%South Shore$15.86 million0.77%North Shore$1.65 million-22.48%Washoe County$59.02 million-7.09%Reno$42.67 million-6.92%Clark County$859.88 million2.79%The Strip$580.7 million3.6%