Gaming win shows solid increase for October

The Carson Valley area had its best month of the fiscal year in October with an 8 percent increase in gaming win to $8.1 million.

The gain more than doubles the 3.6 percent average for Carson City and the valley portions of Douglas County during the first three months of the fiscal year.

North Lake Tahoe casinos shared in the profits with a 5.4 percent increase over the same month of 1998, balanced between slots - up 5.8 percent - and game and table win - up 4.5 percent. But that is actually less than the 8 percent the area has been averaging this year. Total win for the month was $3.5 million at north shore.

South Lake Tahoe, meanwhile, continued to struggle. But its October increase of two-thirds of a percent was the area's best month of the fiscal year thus far. Total win was $28.6 million.

Statewide numbers were up 6.2 percent compared with an 11 percent gain in October 1998. But Gaming Control Board analyst Frank Streshley says that was the month the Bellagio opened on the Las Vegas Strip. Given that, he said 6.2 percent and a total win of $794.5 million is a solid month.

Overall, the state is now up 11.1 percent for the fiscal year.

The big differences this October, according to Streshley, were a major drop in Baccarat winnings offset a bit by an increase in sports bet winnings. This year, he said sports win was up 83 percent.

The big difference: instead of losing $90,000 on World Series bets, Nevada bookies collected $6.9 million.

But that was nowhere near enough to offset the $31.5 million less casinos took in from Baccarat. Baccarat was down 61.1 percent in October compared with the previous year, but Streshley said the 1998 winnings were pumped up by high rollers drawn to the Bellagio grand opening.

Statewide, the numbers were uniformly up. In fact, Streshley pointed out, there was no reporting area from Laughlin to Elko to Reno that showed a decrease compared with last year. Even downtown Las Vegas, which has struggled for several years, had its best month since September 1998 with a 3.4 percent gain.

The strongest gains in the south were in North Las Vegas, up 13.8 percent; Mesquite, up 16.6 percent; and outlying portions of Clark County, increasing 12.5 percent. The county overall was up 6.2 percent to $627.4 million

In Washoe County, the outlying portions of the county also led the way with a 14 percent increase. The county overall was up 6.9 percent for the month to $99.9 million total winnings.

In the east, Wendover increased its win 14.6 percent. Elko County was up 6.6 percent to $21.3 million.