Kristy Loesel
June was a tough month for Nevada casinos with the total win falling 8.4 percent below the previous June.
But the core of the problem wasn’t how bad business was in June, but how good it was in June 2014 when total statewide win was up 14.3 percent.
“Last June was the highest June ever,” said Gaming Control Board Analyst Mike Lawton.
The June dip to $830.9 million in total win was a fitting way to end fiscal year 2014-15. Overall gaming win was down 1.6 percent to just more than $11 billion for the year ending June 30.
For western Nevada markets, however, it was a different story. South Shore casinos at Lake Tahoe finished the year with a 44 percent gain over the previous June, raking in $17.6 million. The primary reason was June 2014 was down 73 percent, making for an easy comparison to beat.
Lawton said South Shore casinos had the best overall increase of any reporting area as the fiscal year came to an end, up 5.7 percent to more than $216 million. South Shore has been up in three of the last four years.
Churchill County finished the year up nearly 2.5 percent to $1.62 million in June. But Churchill was down 3.6 percent over the fiscal year, reporting $19.8 million in total win from its 10 nonrestricted locations.
The Carson Valley Area finished with a 4 percent increase to $8.25 million. That puts Carson Valley, which includes valley portions of Douglas County as well as the capital, up 2.8 percent and $99.5 million for the year. June is the seventh consecutive monthly increase for Carson Valley casinos. Even though most of the area’s play is slots, Game and Table win increased in June by more than 27 percent.
Washoe County casinos also were up for the year by 2.7 percent even though June was a decrease of nearly a percent. Total win there was $765.2 million, fed in part by the United States Bowling Congress Tournament.
At North Lake Tahoe, the year was flat at $25.5 million — a decrease of four-tenths.
Statewide, the big problem, according to Lawton, was Baccarat win which fell by more than half compared with the previous June. Not a surprise, he said, since Baccarat win was up 27 percent in June 2014. He said Baccarat notched year over year increases in only three of the past 12 months as the Chinese government began to crack down on the wealthy players there.
As a result, the Las Vegas Strip was down 16.3 percent compared to June 2014, and finished the year down 4.3 percent — $6.33 billion in total win.
Altogether, 13 of Nevada’s 16 gaming markets reported increases for the fiscal year but, with the Strip down that much, their gains were erased.
Statewide, sports betting continued to rise as it has for well over a year. In June, total win there was up some 111 percent to $14.9 million. Lawton said he believes the new mobile “apps” are helping since registered bettors can place a wager from anywhere. For the fiscal year, the sports pool totaled $237.9 million, a record.
Statewide, slot winnings totaled $6.9 billion, a 2 percent increase that also raised that category’s share of the total win from 60 to 62 percent. The total amount wagered in Nevada casinos over the year was $139 billion.