Gaming does better than expected in January

Nevada casinos did better than expected in January, despite the fact Chinese New Year - one of the industry's busiest holidays - and the Super Bowl fell in February this year.

In 2009, Chinese New Year and the Friday and Saturday preceding the Super Bowl were in January. This year, both occurred in February. Because of that, Gaming Control Board Analyst Frank Streshley said, predictions were January's gaming numbers would fall by double digits compared to last year.

Total win falling just 3.2 percent, Streshley said, is "well above expectations."

That decrease is about the same as December's, which Streshley said is a hopeful sign the industry may be on the road to recovery.

The Carson Valley Area, however, didn't share in the economic boost. Win fell 20.7 percent to just $7.3 million for the area which includes the capital and valley portions of Douglas County. That is the largest percentage decline for the Carson Valley Area in the last decade. It also follows an 8.5 percent decrease in December.

Washoe County reported an 8.7 percent decline in win to $60.2 million. That is Washoe's 31st straight month of declining gaming win.

North Lake Tahoe was down 11.3 percent to $1.99 million for January and South Shore casinos at Stateline saw a 9.7 percent drop to $18.3 million. That is on top of an 11.4 percent decrease for North Shore and a 23.7 percent decline for South Shore in January 2009.

Those markets have all been heavily affected by Indian casinos between them and their primary source of tourist visitors in California.