Recently, the Nevada Gaming Control Board released “win,” or revenue, figures for the month of October. The results showed a significant decline in state-wide revenue from gambling, which slid 22.33% in October when compared to the same month last year. Las Vegas Strip revenue was down 25% year over year.
Clark County, Nevada reported a gambling win of $757 million, falling from just over $1 billion in October of 2007. The change represented a drop of 24.34%, among the largest declines in the state. Casinos on the famed Las Vegas Strip reported $475 million in revenue in October, down from $639 million year over year. That percent decrease amounted to 25.77%. North Las Vegas saw its revenue tumble by the largest reported percentage. October gambling revenue there dropped from $28 million in 2007 to just $18 million in 2008, a slide of 34.53%.
Downtown Las Vegas, which is currently playing host to the filming of Season V of GSN’s High Stakes Poker and the former home of the World Series of Poker, saw its gambling win tumble by 19.59% in October to $48 million. Laughlin revenues dropped by 14.89% year over year and Mesquite’s gambling win sank by 20.67% to $12 billion. Revenues on the Boulder Strip fell by a little more than their Las Vegas counterparts, diving 28.21% to just under $63 million.
The only area which posted a gain in revenue year over year was Carson Valley. Revenue for October of 2008 was $10 billion, up from $9.6 billion during the same period in 2007, a gain of 3.47%. Gambling revenue has fallen state-wide for 10 straight months, with the 22.33% fall in October coming in as the largest single month decline. The last time that gambling win increased year over year was in December of 2007, when casino licensees posted a 3.06% increase over December of 2006.
The State of Nevada collects fees based on monthly gambling win. Accordingly, the state brought in $56 million in fees in November, a 21.53% fall year over year. For the fiscal year 2009, the state has generated $285 million in fees, down 13.22% in comparison to the fiscal year 2008. The general fall in gambling revenue reflects the overall state of the economy, which has suffered worldwide.
Fiscal year to date gambling revenue across the state is down 12.51% from July 1st to October 31st in comparison to the same period in 2007. The largest drop occurred in Mesquite, where fiscal year revenues of $43 million are down 21.46% year over year. On the Las Vegas Strip, which includes venues like the Bellagio and Venetian that host major poker tournaments, fiscal year revenues of $2.01 billion are down 13.80% from last year. No area of the state that the Gaming Control Board reports on posted a growth in fiscal year revenue.
A rare snowfall in Las Vegas this week blanketed much of the city and put a halt to flights into and out of McCarran Airport. Many airlines resumed service early on Thursday morning after a brief interruption. The airport’s website claims it is the seventh busiest in the United States. It sits adjacent to the Strip and is just a short cab ride or shuttle bus away from its many hotels. Reuters news service reported that up to six inches of snow fell in and around Sin City. The finale of the World Poker Tour’s Five Diamond World Poker Classic is scheduled to go on as planned on Friday, with a star-studded cast of Steve Sung, Chino Rheem, Hoyt Corkins, Evan McNiff, Amnon Filippi, and Justin Young set to compete for the $1.5 million first place prize.
