The economy in the United States took a lashing on Monday, as the S&P 500 Index saw its largest drop since the aftermath of September 11th, 2001. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 500 points because of a struggling financial industry. In Las Vegas, the Nevada Gaming Control Board released its monthly revenue report, which showed a drop in Las Vegas Strip gambling revenues of 14.67% in July, 2008 in comparison to July, 2007.
Gaming revenues in Clark County, which includes the greater Las Vegas area, sank by 15.03% year over year to $964 million. Downtown Las Vegas, which includes the Golden Nugget and casinos on Fremont Street, saw its revenue plummet by 16.39% to $53 million. Revenues in Mesquite experienced the sharpest decline, falling 32.42% to $15 million. Mesquite’s major establishments include the CasaBlanca, Eureka, Oasis, Stateline, and Virgin River Casinos.
In comparison to the steep declines in Las Vegas, gambling revenue in Reno, also located in Nevada, stayed relatively constant from year to year, dropping by just 1.11% to $64 million. North Lake Tahoe’s gaming revenues fell by 3.92% to $5 million and the Carson Valley area saw its casino take shrink by 2.86% to $10 million. As you can see, Las Vegas took the brunt of the loss in revenue.
Statewide casino gaming revenues in Nevada were $1.1 billion in July, 2008, off by 12.97% from the same period in 2007. Worrisome on a state level is that revenue generated from fee collections were down 23.98% in August, 2008 in comparison to August, 2007, to $58 million. The state of Nevada generates a large portion of its revenue through land-based gambling. Any slump in traffic to Las Vegas is ultimately detrimental to the bottom line of the state’s budget.
In its report released last month tabulating gaming “wins” in June, revenue generated from Las Vegas Strip casinos was only down 3.02% year over year. Revenues from Downtown Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, the Boulder Strip, and Mesquite all increased. The MGM Mirage group is in the midst of building the massive Project CityCenter on The Strip. The new structure will sit in between The Bellagio and Monte Carlo, occupying the site of the former Boardwalk Casino. The ARIA Casino, Vdara Condos, and Harmon Hotel will make their homes inside CityCenter when it’s completed.
The Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino is the annual home of the World Series of Poker. The Rio is an off-strip casino with a sizeable convention center that includes the Amazon Room, the site of the WSOP. It’s linked with shuttle service to the Strip to other Harrah’s properties. The Rio first hosted the WSOP in its entirety in 2005. WSOP events held from 1970 to 2004 were held at Binion’s in Downtown Las Vegas. The Binion’s poker room has the images of each WSOP winner on its walls.
Attendance at the 2008 WSOP Main Event was 6,844, the second largest World Series of Poker event ever held. Only the 2006 Main Event was larger, attracting a field of 8,776 entrants. The winner will take home $9.1 million. The final nine players remaining in the Main Event will boost Las Vegas’ economy when they return in November to battle it out on November 9th and 10th. The final table will air on ESPN on Tuesday, November 11th.
