Washoe Co. casino win up 2 percent, statewide down 2.3 percent in November

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Gaming win for the month of November across Nevada casinos was down 2.3 percent to just more than $909 million.

In a late December interview, however, Gaming Control Board analyst Mike Lawton said that’s only the third decrease in the 2017 calendar year, and overall, gaming win is up 3 percent for that year so far (December totals will be reported later in January).

Statewide Game and Table win was down 13.2 percent, or $42.9 million, and the driver was primarily Baccarat, which fell 23.5 percent to $64.9 million. Without Baccarat, Lawton said win would’ve actually been up 1 percent in November.

Another contributor to the decrease was “21,” which was down 12.2 percent, or $11.7 million. Also, Sports Pools won just $9.8 million in November. That’s a 48.8 percent ($9.4 million) decrease compared to a year ago — the sports win decrease was because casinos took more than an $11 million hit when the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-1, in game 7 of the World Series on Nov. 1.

Lawton said slot win was the bright spot for the month, up 3.6 percent to $626.7 million, a gain of $21.5 million. Slot win has now recorded nine consecutive increases in the volume of play.

In Washoe County, total win was $63.3 million, up 2 percent or $1.2 million. Overall, Washoe is up 1.9 percent for the 2017 calendar year. In Reno, meanwhile, win totals were fairly even from November 2016, with the city’s casinos seeing a less than 1 percent year-over-year decrease.

November’s gaming win was up 10.8 percent in the Carson Valley area, an $847,000 increase to $8.67 million and the sixth consecutive monthly increase for the area, which includes valley portions of Douglas County, as well as the capital.

Lawton said the driver there was slot win, which increased 11.1 percent, accounting for $830,000 of the total increase. Slot play volume was up 4.5 percent and hold increased over November 2016 as well. For the 2017 calendar year, the Carson Valley area is up 3.4 percent.

Churchill County casinos had a banner month, reporting a 15.1 percent overall increase in November. Total win there was $1.85 million.

North Shore casinos at Lake Tahoe reported $1.9 million in total win, an 18.9 percent increase. But Lawton said it was an easy comparison since November 2016 was down 11 percent at North Shore. Slot play accounted for $223,000 of that $295,000 gain. For the calendar year, Crystal Bay/Incline Village casinos are now up 1.1 percent.

At the south end of the lake, total win was down 2.9 percent to $15.5 million. Stateline casinos had a tough comparison, since a year ago, win was up 12.6 percent.

The driver behind the overall decrease was Game and Table win that fell 8.2 percent or $344,000 in November. The culprit was “21,” which suffered a 36.3 percent decrease. But for the calendar year, South Shore is up 2.7 percent.