A $40 million decline in baccarat win and slot-revenue accounting prompted a 3.8% decline in Nevada gaming revenue in August, a drop on both Strip and locals casinos.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported Thursday that the $1.16 billion in revenue was down from $1.2 billion in August 2023.
The Las Vegas Strip declined 3.5% to $643.6 million, down from $666.7 million a year ago.
Downtown Las Vegas had a steeper decline of 8.8% from $63.9 million to $58.3 million. For the year, however, gaming win is up 1% downtown.
The Boulder Strip dropped 21.8% from $82.9 million in August 2023 to $64.8 million last month. Overall, casinos that serve local residents recorded $231.7 million in revenue, a 6.4% decline.
Michael Lawton, a senior economic analyst with the Gaming Control Board, pointed to a $39.9 million decline in baccarat hold as one of the reasons for the reduced revenue. Total win excluding baccarat increased by 2.8% or $15.5 million, he said.
Statewide slot win was down $31.4 million due to collections timing; August ended on a weekend, so that slot drop will roll into September and be reported next month, Lawton said.
Strip slot win totaled $366.9 million and decreased 0.4% or $1.4 million with an 8.5% or $407.6 million increase in coin-in. Slot hold was 7% versus 7.6% last year.
The Strip’s games win totaled $276.8 million and decreased 7.3% or $21.7 million and drop increased 8.9% or $161.4 million. Games hold percentage was 14.1% versus 16.5% last year.
Baccarat win totaled $75.7 million and was down $38.6 million or 33.8%. Volume totaled $721.7 million, up 12.4% or $79.6 million. Hold was 10.5% versus. 17.8.
Downtown, slot win totaled $38.4 million and decreased 19.8% ($9.5 million). Slot coin-in was up 10% ($53.5 million). Slot win percentage was 6.5% versus 9% last year.
Downtown game and table win totaled $20 million, up 23.9% ($3.9 million). Game drop increased 8.4% or $16.1 million on a hold of 9.6% versus 8.4% last year.
Sports betting downtown increased 170.8% or $5.5 million. Volumes were up 8.4% or $16.4 million. There was a hold of 6.6% versus 2.8%.
Statewide, Nevada sportsbooks won $25 million, up 38.9% compared to August 2023 on a hold percentage of 5.5% versus 4.2% last year. Sportsbook wagers totaled $455.5 million, up 5.6% compared to last August when $431.2 million was wagered statewide.
Mobile wagers totaled $313.3 million, down 1% ($3.3 million) and accounted for 68.8% of all wagers.
Football won $8.7 million, up 73.3% or $3.7 million; volumes were up 62.3% or $32.5 million on a hold of 10.3% versus 9.7%. The first weekend of college football fell on August 31 this year versus during September 2023.
Other sports won $7.6 million, up 66.9% or $3.1 million; volumes were up 24.6% or $22.2 million on a hold of 6.8% versus 5.1% last year. The Olympics were a significant contributing factor to these results, Lawton said.
Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli said he would characterize the Strip results as modestly better than their forecast (-4.8% year over year) when considering the 3.5% decline was hampered by lower-than-forecast baccarat hold. He also had a take on the locals market.
“Given the calendar influence and calendar accounting over both July and August, we think the third quarter to date result is more indicative of the underlying cadence in the locals market,” Santarelli said. “As such, the 3.3% quarter-to-date growth is a reasonable proxy and this would imply same-store quarter-to-date results are down low- to mid-single digits year over year, consistent with our views.”
Elsewhere around the state, Mesquite and Sparks bucked the trend of declines in gaming win. Mesquite recorded $14.4 million in revenue, a 10.2% increase over $13.1 million a year ago. Sparks had $17 million in revenue, up 11.3% from $15.3 million a year ago.
South Lake Tahoe rose .3% from $26.5 million to $26.6 million.
Laughlin fell 5% from $34.4 million a year ago to $32.7 million in August. Reno fell 4.8% from $68.7 million to $65.4 million.
Las Vegas hosted several high-profile events in August. Dead & Company played at the MSG Sphere August 1-10. Allegiant Stadium hosted Morgan Wallen for two nights. Carrie Underwood performed at the Resorts World Theatre August 14-24. The Killers played multiple dates at the Colosseum inside Caesars Palace. Mariah Carey debuted at Dolby Live inside the Park MGM August 2-10 and Bruno Mars performed August 20-31.
