Casinos win $756.8M in July, 'exceeding expectations,' still down 26% from last year

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Nevada casinos rebounded in July, winning $756.8 million.

“This month’s numbers, I think, exceeded everyone’s expectations,” Gaming Control Board analyst Mike Lawton said Wednesday.

July’s gambling win total is a major improvement over the $566.8 million casinos won in June — and, obviously, a massive improvement from the near-zero win totals in April and May due to coronavirus closures.

Still, July’s $756.8 million in gambling win is a 26.2% decrease, down $268 million, from July 2019.

“The question now is can we continue to grow off this,” said Lawton.

A review of the numbers released Wednesday shows that smaller markets outside of Las Vegas and those that get the majority of their win from slots are recovering much faster than those depending more heavily on game and table win.

The Strip, where eight large resorts are still closed, was down 39% from a year ago at $330 million in total win, accounting for almost 80% of the statewide decrease. The list of resorts still closed includes the Mirage (which is planning to reopen Thursday), Planet Hollywood and the Tropicana.

Also suffering are the two Lake Tahoe reporting areas.

South Shore casinos won $21.1 million in July, a roughly 40% decrease from last year. Slot win fell 33% and table games 51.5%.

North Shore casinos won $2.4 million in July, a 33.2% decrease from last year. Slot win was down 21.8% to $545,000, but game and table win fell over 58%.

In both reporting areas, the volume of play was far less than a year ago.

The Carson Valley Area, which includes Carson City and valley portions of Douglas County, trended much better in July, said Lawton, reporting total win of $9.6 million. That’s only 2.6% below a year ago. Table game win was 51% below July 2019 at just $273,000, but slot win was actually up a third of a percent to $9.3 million.

Washoe County didn’t fare as well as Carson, but the county as a whole was off just 7.5% to $72.3 million. While slot win was down just 1.8%, game and table win decreased 30.8 percent.

One bright spot in Washoe was Sparks, where total win actually increased 2.8% to $11.9 million in July.

In Churchill County, game and table win fell 76.5% to just $10,000. But slot play was up 18.5% to a bit more than $2 million. Overall, the county’s 13 licensees notched a 16.5% increase over last year, finishing July at $2,021,000.

Statewide, game and table win was down 36.1% to $210.4 million. Slot win totaled $546.4 million, a decrease of 21.5% or $149.5 million.

Sports pools were down 40.2% to $6.3 million. Of that total, wagers made with mobile apps accounted for $5.8 million.