Nevada gaming win jumps 12% in January

CARSON CITY — Gaming win jumped 12 percent in January, totaling more than $1 billion for just the second time this fiscal year.

The total $1.036 billion is $111.2 million more than the same month last year despite having two fewer weekend days.

Gaming Control Board Analyst Mike Lawton said one key to the gain was the fact Chinese New Year was in January this year instead of February as it was last year.

As a result, Game and Table win increased 16.1 percent or $55.8 million this January for $401.8 million.

A large part of that increase was the 55 percent increase in Baccarat win, a total of $157.9 million. That is the first monthly increase in Baccarat win since July and only the fifth in the past 25 months.

The gains were pretty much concentrated in Southern Nevada on the Las Vegas Strip which saw a 14.4 percent increase in win. Other markets including Washoe County and the Carson Valley area, which includes valley portions of Douglas County, didn’t fare as well.

Lawton said in addition to the two fewer weekend days, sports pools suffered in January as football bettors beat the books in end-of-season college and NFL playoff games resulting in actual losses. Finally, in the north, he said the weather played a role in reducing play and, therefore, win.

Carson finished the month at $7.55 million, a half-percent or $37,000 down from a year ago. Game and Table win fell 16.2 percent or $68,000 — in large part because the sports pool lost $144,000. That was somewhat offset by a large increase in “21” win. Slot win was up in Carson but only by $31,000.

Washoe County had a bad month, falling a bit more than 7 percent to $54.6 million.

“The weather did not help,” said Lawton. “The calendar didn’t as well, football betting either.”

It was Washoe’s first decrease since May, ending seven consecutive increases.

South Shore casinos at Lake Tahoe had a good month, increasing 10.8 percent to $17.1 million. The area was up against a difficult comparison since January last year was up 9.2 percent from the year before that. Slot win was actually down $420,000. But Table games win increased 37.2 percent. In that category, “21” win was up 178 percent primarily on “hold.” The casinos kept more than 28 percent of every dollar bet on that game, about double the normal hold.

North Shore Casinos at Crystal Bay suffered a 29.9 percent decrease to $1.7 million. The area was up against a difficult comparison since win increased more than 22 percent last year.

Slot win was down $106,000 but the big hit was $372,000 loss by sports pools and a $196,000 loss to football bettors.

Altogether, North Shore casinos were down $730,000 from the same month last year.

Churchill County casinos reported an increase for the month but only by a quarter percent. Total win for the month was $1.566 million. A tiny decrease — less than two-tenths — in slot win was offset by the 18.67 percent increase in table game win to a bit more than $43,000.

Again football was a loss in Churchill, costing the casinos $9,000. That was more than offset by the nearly 270 percent increase in basketball win to $18,000.

Statewide sports pool win fell 60 percent to $7.9 million. Across all counties, football cost the books $8.3 million.

Slot win was $634.5 million in January, a 9.6 percent or $55.4 million increase, the eighth increase in nine months. Game and Table win was $2.7 billion, an increase of $200.5 million.