At least the declines are getting smaller.
For the third time in three months, Nevada’s statewide casino industry experienced a monthly gaming revenue decrease, although March’s 0.12 percent wasn’t much of a decline – $1,201,154 to be exact. The figures were released Thursday by the Gaming Control Board.
Still, the $1.0229 billion collected in March – compared with $1.0241 billion in March 2018 – marked the state’s second consecutive $1 billion month.
In January, gaming revenue fell 3 percent and 0.64 percent in February.
The key reporting markets, the Las Vegas Strip and Reno, suffered slightly larger declines in March. The Strip was down 3.8 percent and Reno was off 1.9 percent.
For the fiscal year, Nevada gaming revenues are up .75 percent and the calendar year is off 1.2 percent.
Control Board Senior Research Analyst Michael Lawton said, “the culprit for this month’s slight decline was baccarat win, which totaled $53.6 million and was down 54.3 percent. Volumes were down significantly compared to last year.” Wagering on the game was down 42.1 percent.
“Excluding baccarat, the state would have increased 6.9 percent in total win,” Lawton said.
Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Carlo Santarelli said the baccarat wager total of $484.3 million single-month total since June 2009.
“We continue to believe the high-end gaming declines will have a greater impact on flow through than most appreciate in the first quarter,” Santarelli told investors. He said the results from baccarat could reflect on the numbers for MGM Resorts International when the company reports earnings next week.
Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Chad Beynon said high-end play on the Strip “remains weak beyond the Super Bowl and Chinese New Year.” He noted that mass market trends were better than expected.
“We think this will result in a good first quarter for non-VIP focused operators,” Beynon said.
Still, there were some bright spots in March.
Roulette revenues increased 43.5 percent to $41.7 million, which marked the second highest monthly total ever for the game. While the state’s sports betting industry collected $32.5 million in revenues, a decline of 4.8 percent, wagering was up 14.4 percent to $596.8 million, an all-time single-month record.
The total was driven by basketball wagers of $495.1 million, an all-time record.
“The interesting fact about the total wagers in sports was the it surpassed baccarat volume for the first time since March of 2004,” Lawton said.
Lawton said the Control Board estimated that $346.6 million of the basketball bets were placed on the NCAA Tournament.
The declines during March were centered on Nevada’s top tourism markets. The Las Vegas locals market was up a combined 6.6 percent and other parts of the state, including South Lake Tahoe – up 9.2 percent – reported gaming revenue increases.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
