It wasn’t the start to 2019 Nevada gaming leaders were envisioning.
Casino revenue statewide declined 3 percent in January to $984.5 million, according to figures released Thursday by the Gaming Control Board. The state’s major gaming markets also reported declines; Las Vegas Strip revenue fell 4 percent to $532.2 million, downtown Las Vegas was down 7.8 percent to $52.1 million, and Reno was off 1.1 percent to $44.2 million.
The Las Vegas Strip was largely affected by high-end baccarat play; revenues from the game were down 14.6 percent from a year ago while the amount wagered was down 22.4 percent.
Credit Suisse gaming Cameron McKnight, in a note to investors, said weaker business from China hurt baccarat play. While the headlines showed a decline, McKnight said the Strip still had a strong month in January.
“Headline revenues are often misleading due to calendars, end-of-month accounting conventions and variance in high-end baccarat hold rates,” McKnight said.
Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Chad Beynon said the government in January may have played a role in Las Vegas’s down month.
“This is consistent with operator comments regarding a softer Chinese New Year period (and) Chinese visitors experiencing trouble obtaining visas during the government shutdown,” Beynon said.
The month was up against a challenging comparison. January 2018 marked the first of five months last year where state gaming revenue topped $1 billion. Nevada gaming revenue was $11.9 billion in 2018. The figure also snapped a streak of four consecutive monthly gaming increases for the state.
“As for the Strip, this month was impacted by disappointing baccarat results,” said Control Board Senior Research Analyst Michael Lawton. “On top of those results were 21 games being down 9.5 percent due to lower hold this year compared to last.”
Lawton said the numbers drove the Las Vegas overall revenues down just under 1 percent for the fiscal year to date, the only major market in the state that is down.
“The Strip is facing some difficult comparisons over the next several months, obviously we will be watching closely,” Lawton said. “The Strip’s fundamentals remain relatively positive with slot volume and game and table volume both up fiscal year to date. However, baccarat is currently disrupting these positive trends due to lower than expected hold percentage through the first seven months of the fiscal year.”
According to numbers release Thursday by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, visitor volume increased 2.1 percent to more than 3.46 million visitors during January. Convention attendance grew 11.5 percent to a couple of events falling into January versus February last year.
The Las Vegas locals gaming market was also mixed during January. The balance of Clark County saw gaming revenue increase 2.3 percent, North Las Vegas was up 1.7 percent, but the Boulder Strip, which includes casinos in the community of Henderson, were down almost 9.7 percent.
Nevada sportsbooks reported revenue $14.6 million, a decline of 41.7 percent from a year ago which was due to customers winning more of their wagers. Sportsbooks, however, took in $497.5 million in wagers, an increase of 19 percent.
South Lake Tahoe casinos had the steepest declines, with gaming revenue falling 14 percent in January.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
