February statewide gaming down but Carson City area up

Statewide gaming win was down a percent in February to $916.1 million.

But the Carson Valley Area consisting of the capital and valley portions of Douglas County, saw a 2.64 percent increase to $7.65 million.

Carson was up $197,000 for February, all because of slot play. In fact, Carson has now been up compared to the same month of the previous year for three straight months.

South Lake Tahoe was also up in February, a 5.66 percent increase to $15.57 million. The gain was aided by the first full month of operation by the Hard Rock Casino. Slot win grew by 13.3 percent at Stateline casinos.

North Shore casinos at Tahoe also had a good month, again because of slot play. They raked in $1.8 million or 3.1 percent more than the same month in 2014. It was a soft comparison since total win was down 22 percent a year ago but this marks the fifth straight increase at North Shore.

Rounding out a positive month for the north was the 3.4 percent growth in win for Washoe County. The $60.7 million total win is Washoe’s third month of positive gaming numbers.

Churchill County reported a flat month with no real change from a year ago. While slot play was up nearly a percent, gaming win fell 22.4 percent. Slot play makes up nearly all of Churchill’s gaming activity.

At the state level, the problem was Baccarat, which fell 23.6 percent to $121 million compared to Feb., 2014. Baccarat, in fact, has been down year over year in six of the last seven months and, for the fiscal year so far, is down 14.2 percent.

Without Baccarat, statewide win would have actually been up 3.6 percent.

Gaming Control board analyst Mike Lawton said there’s a hopeful sign in the slots numbers. Slot volume of play has been up for three straight months and five of the past seven.

Slot win was up 4.86 percent to $565 million, an indication the regular players have been returning to Nevada.