Nevada casinos post 3rd straight billion-dollar month in gaming win

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Nevada casinos have now reported three consecutive months when total win exceeded $1 billion.

Statewide total win was $1,024,316,755 in March, a 3.37 percent increase over the same month of 2017.

“This hasn’t happened for a long time,” said Gaming Control Board analyst Mike Lawton, pointing out the last time was in 2008.

For Northern Nevada reporting areas, the news was good for the Carson Valley area — but equally bad at Stateline on Tahoe’s South Shore.

Win was $9.4 million for Carson Valley, which includes valley portions of Douglas County as well as the capital. That’s a 12.7 percent, $1.1 million increase driven by slot win which increased 13.5 percent.

For the year, Carson Valley is now up 7.2 percent for the fiscal year, and March was the 10th consecutive month of increases compared with the corresponding month of 2017.

In contrast, win at Stateline casinos fell 12.8 percent, or $2.1 million, to $14.6 million. Like Carson, the explanation was slot win, but at the lake, that number fell 16.1 percent accounting for $1.9 million of that decrease. But, for the first three months of the calendar year, South Shore is up 10.7 percent.

Lawton said part of the explanation was timing, since the month ended on a Saturday and some slot revenue won’t be reported until April numbers are compiled.

North Lake Tahoe casinos also had a banner month, reporting $2 million in win — a $280,000 increase. There, the driver was table games, where win increased 67 percent. Blackjack win accounted for $175,000 of the increase, effectively doubling what that game generated last year.

Washoe County casinos were up just 2.1 percent, or $1.4 million, in March. The total there was just shy of $70.5 million. That, however, is Washoe’s 11th monthly increase and the area is up 5.8 percent for the fiscal year.

Churchill County casinos saw an increase as well, but only by three-quarters of a percent. The Churchill locations won $1.98 million in March. But since the first two months of the calendar were excellent in Churchill, the area is up 6.1 percent this year.

The 2.6 percent increase in slot win in March, which makes up 97 percent of gaming revenue in that county, was largely offset by a 36.5 percent decrease in table game win.

The statewide increase was driven by Baccarat, which more than doubled compared to the previous March, raking in $117.2 million. Without Baccarat, statewide win would’ve been down 2.7 percent instead of up 3.4 percent.

The other notable statistic for the month was the sports pool, where total win was $34.2 million, an 8.7 percent increase.

But Lawton said the sports pool set an all time record for the amount of cash bet — $521.6 million. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament was the driver, accounting for about 70 percent of the total bet.

Slot win was down statewide at $643.3 million. That 1.8 percent decrease is the first negative after 12 consecutive monthly increases.