Total gaming win fell 6.85 percent in Churchill County in September.
The primary culprit was the slots that make up the vast majority of that area’s gaming win — down 5 percent to $5.15 million. But the 97 percent decrease in win by Churchill’s three sports betting operations certainly didn’t help. Those three books reported total winnings of just about $1,000. With game and table win added in, Churchill’s total for September was just $1.59 million.
Carson area casinos recorded another net gain in gaming win in September.
The reporting area, which includes valley casinos in Douglas County as well as the Capital, posted a 1.64 percent increase to $8.7 million, a $140,000 increase from the same month of 2014.
Gaming Control Board Analyst Mike Lawton said Carson Valley has only had one down month this calendar year (August was down 2.5 percent). He said so far this year, Carson casinos are up 4.5 percent over the previous year.
Statewide, September was 1.5 percent up in total gaming win to $916.35 million.
Baccarat, which has been suffering since the clampdown on the rich taking their money abroad by the Chinese government, was actually up compared to the year before, raking in $100.7 million, a 21.6 percent increase. That is just the third monthly increase this year for Baccarat, which is down 18 percent compared to 2014.
With help from Baccarat, Game and Table win totaled $344 million in September, a 7.6 percent increase. September’s increase ends a four-month streak of declines. The amount bet on games increased $92 million to $2.5 billion in September.
Slot win was down just 1.8 percent — $572.4 million. But, for the calendar year, slot win is up 3.7 percent. The total dollars bet on slots was up $132 million to $8.7 billion.
South Lake Tahoe casinos at Stateline reported a 10.6 percent decrease to $21.25 million. But they were up against a 7.2 percent increase in September 2014. South shore has not reported three consecutive declines in win.
At North Shore casinos, the story was just the opposite — a 7.3 percent increase to $2.36 million. That translates to $161,000.
But, for the year, North shore is still down 3.4 percent.
Washoe County had a strong month, reporting total win of $71.45 million. That’s just more than 8 percent more than last September. Lawton said games win, slot win, the amount bet in both those categories as well as visitor volume were all up compared to a year ago. One reason, he said, was the King Fire that doused the Reno area in smoke a year ago.