Nevada resorts post second straight year of growth

Nevada resorts reported growth in fiscal 2013 for the second straight year after three consecutive declines.

But total win of $10.9 billion is still 14.4 percent below the peak set in fiscal 2007.

The Carson Valley Area, which includes valley portions of Douglas County as well as the capital, didn’t fare so well, reporting a decrease of 1.8 percent for the year despite finishing with a 2.3 percent gain to $8.4 million in June.

The total win of $97.8 million for the year is more than 21 percent below the area’s peak of $124.7 million in 2006.

While slot win for the year was off just nine-tenths of a percent, game and table win fell 10.6 percent.

South Shore casinos at Lake Tahoe finished the year on a sour note, with June’s $12.5 million take falling 24.4 percent below the previous June. But the total $211.5 million for the year was up 2.6 percent over the previous fiscal year. Good news for Tahoe casinos is that this is the second consecutive year of growth after five straight years of decline. But that total is a full 38 percent below South Shore’s peak year in 2004.

The growth at South Shore seems to come from what the monthly gaming report dubs “Other Games” — a euphemism primarily for Baccarat in that market.

North Shore casinos at Crystal Bay also had a good year, growing 4.1 percent to a total win of $26.9 million. That is North Shore’s first year-over-year gain since 2007. While slot win was down three-tenths, Game and Table win jumped $18.7 percent.

Washoe County had its first positive year since major Indian casinos opened between it and the Bay Area nearly a decade ago. Washoe has been up three of the last four months. Overall, the county was up just four-tenths of a percent, to $741 million.

In Clark County, total win was up 2.1 percent for the year, 3.9 percent on the Strip. But most of the local markets in the south were down a bit, overall about 1.1 percent to $2.1 billion. With both the men’s and women’s bowling tournaments in town, Reno was up 1.1 percent for the year.

For the year, Churchill County casinos were down just over 1 percent to $20.75 million. One factor is that the area finished the year with 10 non-restricted locations — one less than it started with — helping to drive a 10.5 percent drop in total game and table win. The vast majority of win in Churchill comes from slot play — all but $610,000 in fiscal 2013.

For June, Churchill’s 10 locations reported a 4.3 percent decrease in total win, to $1.65 million.

Statewide, total game and table win grew to $4.1 billion in fiscal 2013, $1.4 billion of which came from the Baccarat tables — 13.6 percent more than the previous fiscal year — on total bets of more than $11.3 billion. Both the volume and win numbers are records for that game.

Because of the exponential growth in Baccarat play, slot win of $6.76 billion generated just 62 percent of the year’s total — the lowest percentage for slots since 1996.

The total amount wagered during fiscal 2013 was $138.3 billion, just 1 percent less than the previous year but well below the peak $170.4 billion wagered in 2007.

Statewide, casinos finished the year with a 4.8 percent decrease, about $40 million, to $792.5 million. The key factor was that June 2012 featured a huge Manny Pacquiao fight and big boxing matches drive high-end Baccarat play. This June by comparison produced $51 million less Baccarat win as not only the amount bet but the hold percentage were off significantly.

Without Baccarat, total win was actually up 1.5 percent in June.

The year produced a couple of interesting trends. Gaming Control Board Analyst Mike Lawton said it was the first time that Roulette win was higher than the total raked in on the craps tables — $376 million to $371 million. Roulette grew 9.6 percent in fiscal 2013 on top of 12.4 percent the year before.

He said the game is drawing a lot of international play, primarily from South America.

In addition, the total amount bet on sports was $3.5 billion, a 13.5 percent increase and a record for the fourth straight year.

“However, we have not had a record-amount win,” Lawton said.

He said the win percentage for sports pools has fallen consistently over the years, and this year’s 4.4 percent is the lowest hold since 1999.