Carson-area gaming win rises

While Nevada casino gaming win dipped 6 percent in June, the Carson City area posted a nominal increase of 1.1 percent.

Carson's $8.2 million in revenue, however, was up against a weak June 2011 when the total decreased 5.5 percent compared with the year before.

It was the area's first positive month since February and only the second increase in win this calendar year for the Carson Valley, which includes Carson City as well as Douglas County outside of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Just the opposite was true at the state level.

June 2011 win was up 16 percent over the previous year making for a very difficult comparison this year. The overall decrease came despite a favorable calendar that saw an additional Friday and Saturday. The fact the month ended on a Saturday, however, means the slot machine winnings from those final two days won't be reported until July since casinos don't interrupt players by emptying the machines on weekends.

Gaming Control Board Analyst Mike Lawton said three of the past four months have been down statewide, including May's 10 percent decrease.

"It's been a lousy quarter," he said.

Total win for the state was $832.5 million.

The "win" is what was left in casino coffers after gamblers wagered $11.2 billion in June playing cards, table games and slot machines. A breakdown shows $8.7 billion was bet at slot and video machines and $2.6 billion on table games. While the volume of play was up statewide, luck was on the side of gamblers, who beat the house more than in June 2011.

For June, the problem was almost exclusively a Southern Nevada problem as Northern reporting areas were almost all above 2011.

Reno had one of its best months in a long time. The 9.4 percent gain there helped drive a 7.26 percent Washoe County increase. That increase was despite a 5.5 percent decrease in Sparks. Overall, Washoe casinos raked in $66.78 million in June.

Included in that total is a 29.26 percent increase for North Shore casinos at Lake Tahoe. Crystal Bay's win was $2.4 million.

Lawton said June 2011 was down more than 14 percent, so it was an easy comparison.

Lake Tahoe's South Shore casinos at Stateline also did very well in June - up 17.2 percent to $16.55 million. Again, that came against a bad 2011, when south Tahoe casino win was down more than 28 percent. The increase came in game and table win. The win in table games was up 71 percent compared with 2011.

Las Vegas Strip casinos, which account for more than half of statewide gambling revenue, reported winnings of $483.7 million in June, a decline of 4.5 percent. Downtown Las Vegas brought in $33.7 million posting a 13 percent drop.

Clark County gaming win overall was $707.3 million, a drop of 7.8 percent. Every part of the county was down except Mesquite, the smallest of the seven reporting areas.

The decrease came despite the 3.4 million visitors to Southern Nevada in June - up more than 2 percent from a year ago. Four of those areas, downtown, North Las Vegas, Laughlin and the Boulder Strip, were down by double-digit percentages.

For the fiscal year that ended June 30, total casino win totaled $10.7 billion, up 0.7 percent from the previous year. Wagers amounted to $139.7 billion, up 0.9 percent. Betting on slots rose 1 percent to $107 billion, while table game wagers inched up 0.6 percent to $31.8 billion.

While meager, the slot volume is the first increase reported since 2007, Lawton said.

The report also noted casino markets that cater more to locals than tourists saw modest gains, suggesting those areas may be starting to see a stabilizing of the economy.

• The Associated Press contributed to this report.