Gaming win dips for Nye gaming operators

Gaming operators in Nye County have experienced an up-and-down curve when it comes to gaming win over the last few months on a monthly basis.

Gaming operators in the county were down nearly 3 percent in July for gaming revenue from the same period a year ago, according to data from the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Revenue collected in July was more than $4 million for gaming operators in the county, compared with more than $4.2 million collected the same time a year earlier.

The July decrease comes after operators experienced an 8.76 percent gain in June over the same period in 2017. Gaming operators also experienced a decrease for May in comparison to May 2017.

According to the control board, the three-month period from May to the end of July was down 0.71 percent from the same period a year earlier.

May marked the end of a streak of positive gains in gaming revenue, on a monthly basis, that began in July 2017 and ran through April.

The news isn’t all negative for the month for gaming establishments.

For a 12-month period (Aug. 1, 2017, to July 31, 2018), gaming operators are nearly 7 percent positive when compared with the same period a year prior (Aug. 1, 2016, to July 31, 2017).

In fact, using a 12-month comparison (to the same 12-month period a year earlier), gaming operators have been positive in gaming revenue for May through July.

Looking back further uncovers an even longer streak of positive gains dating to a 12-month period ending in February 2017 (March 1, 2016, to Feb. 28, 2017). For reference, this February 2017 period ending was compared with March 1, 2015, to Feb. 28, 2016, and so stands this model moving forward in time.

On a statewide level, gaming operators experienced a tiny decrease in July 2018 when compared with the same time a year earlier. Operators across the state took in over $996 million in gaming revenue in July — a drop of 0.16 percent from July 2017.

The last dip, on a monthly basis, for gaming revenue statewide occurred in January when gaming revenue was over 2 percent down from January 2017.

Statewide gaming revenue stayed positive during a 12-month period ending in July (Aug. 1, 2017, to July 31, 2018). Using that comparison over the prior 12 months, gaming operators in Nevada saw a more than 3 percent increase in gaming revenue.

In a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Michael Lawton, senior research analyst for the administration division of the Control Board, stated, “all 20 markets monitored by the board are ahead of last year’s pace for the first seven months of 2018.”

In the report, Lawton pointed to lower baccarat volumes as a contributing factor to gaming win falling short of July 2017’s totals.

“Last July nearly recorded $1 billion in win, and we came up just shy of matching that number this month,” Lawton said in the Review-Journal report.

In the Review-Journal report, Lawton stated that “game and table win was the reason statewide win was off, which was due to baccarat and mini-baccarat recording lower volume amounts, but the decreases were primarily the result of lower hold. Due to slot collection timing, July benefited compared to last year; however, it wasn’t enough to make up for the lower hold percentages recorded by baccarat, mini-baccarat, 21, craps and roulette.”

In Nye County, gaming operators experienced an overall gain in gaming win in July (5.58 percent) in the table, counter and card games category when compared with a year ago.

Gaming operators experienced a dip of more than 3 percent in gaming win for slot machines in July 2018 compared with a year earlier. The biggest decrease in revenue in the slot machine category was in quarter slots, which dipped almost 22 percent in revenue in July when compared with a year ago.

Contact reporter Jeffrey Meehan at jmeehan@pvtimes.com