May gaming win continued Nevada’s recovery following the recession, posting a 3.5 percent increase to $991.6 million.
Gaming Control Board Analyst Mike Lawton said it’s the third consecutive monthly increase in total win. He said there has been just one decrease this calendar year and with the exception of North Shore at Lake Tahoe, every major market in Nevada is up over the 11 months of this fiscal year.
“There’s a broad pattern of growth that’s good for the entire state,” he said.
Lawton said increases in the volume of betting in both table games and slot play are a good sign. Games volume was up a half percent to $2.5 billion while slot volume increased 2.2 percent to $9.3 billion in May.
Even Baccarat, he said, seems to be smoothing out compared to the past couple of years he compared to “having a rough ride on a rollercoaster.”
Lawton said there have been three increases in Baccarat volume this calendar year compared to just one in calendar 2016.
The dark spot in May’s numbers was sports betting and the problem was basketball, that actually cost the books $4.4 million.
“The public pretty much hammered the favorites and the over,” Lawton said.
And, in May, both the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers responded by repeatedly covering the spread and surpassing the over-under line.
North Shore casinos at Tahoe reported about $1.5 million in May win, down 7.3 percent or $120,000. Game and Table win at Crystal Bay was down $59,000 primarily because of basketball bets that accounted for $42,000 of that loss.
The Carson Valley Area, which includes valley portions of Douglas County as well as the Capital, was down 1.1 percent to $8.6 million for the month — a $92,000 decrease. The 6.8 percent increase in April helped offset that dip.
For both the calendar and fiscal years so far, Carson is basically flat, up less than 1 percent.
At south shore Lake Tahoe casinos in Stateline, it was a different story. Total was up 30 percent to $17.8 million, a $4.1 million increase over May 2016. But Lawton said it was an easy comparison since last May was down 15 percent. South Shore simply had more business this year with slot volume up nearly 6 percent.
Washoe County casinos were flat, up just three-tenths of a percent to $68.2 million or $195,000. Washoe casinos are up for the 11 months of the fiscal year by 2.1 percent but down 1.6 percent for the five months of the calendar year.
In Churchill County, May’s total win was $1,753,000. That’s a 2.75 percent increase over the same month last year.
Because table games represent just a tiny portion of Churchill’s gaming market, a 3.58 percent increase in slot win easily overwhelmed the 15.23 percent decrease in game and table win. Games make up just more than $64,000 in win for the month compared to $1.69 million in slot win.
