Nevada four-month winning streak ends despite October producing $1.021 billion in gaming revenue

Tuesday, November 26, 2019 2:57 PM

Nevada’s casino industry recorded more than $1 billion in monthly gaming revenue for the sixth time in 2019 during October, but the total couldn’t match last year’s figure.

The Gaming Control Board said Tuesday the state’s casinos collected $1.021 billion in gaming revenues during the month, a decline of 3.85% compared to $1.062 billion collected in October 2018.

The result ended four straight monthly increases Nevada had experienced this year following five straight monthly losses. Still, Nevada gaming revenues are up 0.9% compared to same 10 months of 2018.

October marked the first time since 2008 that Nevada casinos had more than five $1 billion gaming revenue months in a calendar year. The state record is 10 $1 billion months recorded in 2007.

The bright spot in the monthly report was downtown Las Vegas. Gaming revenue rose 7.16% to $68.3 million, which was the second highest October total ever recorded in the market. The all-time record is $70.8 million which was hit in October 1989. Gaming revenues downtown are up 6.4% for the first 10 months of 2018.

On the Las Vegas Strip, casino revenues fell 9.25% to $538.5 million – or almost 53% of the state’s total number. Stifel Financial gaming analyst Steven Wieczynski told investors the Strip was going up against a tough comparison. Gaming revenue in October 2018 were 12% percent higher than the prior year.

Baccarat results turned out to be the culprit. Revenues from the game on the Strip fell 27% during the month to $55.7 million. Wagering on baccarat was down 20.5 percent.

However, slot machine revenue on the Strip was up 1.6% to $304.9 million, which marked nine consecutive monthly increases. Wagering of $3.8 billion was a 5.4% increase and eighth consecutive monthly jump.

“Last October wasn’t a record, just a very strong month for gaming win,” said Michael Lawton, the Control Board’s senior research analyst. He said the October 2018 figures were the highest gaming revenue for that particular month since 2007.

“This month was definitely a difficult comparison,” Lawton said.

Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Chad Beynon told investors the Strip numbers fell short of expectations, but he expects November and December to be promising. Also, there is optimism heading into 2020 for the Strip.

“Looking into 2020, operators remain optimistic around the non-VIP side of the business, with strong convention schedules already in the books and additional non-supply capacity coming online later in the year,” Beynon said. “MGM Resorts International noted that 2020 is expected to a strong year for the convention business, given (the) ConAg (convention), the NFL Draft and the opening of the new football stadium (for the relocated Las Vegas Raiders).”

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said tourism fell in Las Vegas during October to more than 3.67 million visitors, a dip of 0.3%. LVCVA Director of Research Scott Russell said A 21.1% drop in convention attendance hurt the month.

Russell said several tradeshows and conferences, including the National Association of Convenience Stores, cycled out of Las Vegas this year, while others, including IMEX America, fell into different months.

In Las Vegas, the average daily room rate declined 5% to $135.33 while revenue per available room dipped 6.4% to $121.80.

The October gaming results weren’t as bleak in other parts of the state. In Northern Nevada, Reno gaming revenues grew 2% while South Lake Tahoe saw revenues grow 14.3%. Still, Reno is down 1.5% for the first 10 months of the year while all of Washoe County is down 0.9%.

Nevada’s sports books grew revenues 61.7% to $47.9 million in October and saw wagering increase 2.6% to $543.8 million. For the first 10 months of the year, sports betting revenues are up 14.2% and wagering is up 6.9%.

Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.