Carson City suffers first gaming decline since November 2014

Statewide gaming win fell 1.4 percent in August to more than $908 million.

Win also was down in the Carson Valley Area, which included valley portions of Douglas County. The 2.46 percent decline to $8.8 million was Carson’s first year-over-year decrease since November 2014.

Statewide, the story was about the calendar and the poor performance of table games. There was one less Friday this August than last and the Labor Day weekend fell in September this year, not August.

Game and Table win dipped sharply to $332.6 million. That’s 16.4 percent and $65 million less than August 2014, $42 million of which was from Baccarat.

But other games also were down sharply this time including blackjack, craps and roulette — all down by double digits.

Gaming Control Board analyst Mike Lawton said without Baccarat, the total win would actually have been up nearly 4 percent.

This is the fourth consecutive decline in table game winnings statewide.

Slot win was a rosier picture in August, reporting total win of $575.7 million, a 10 percent increase over the same month of 2014. For the calendar year, slot win is up 4.4 percent, which officials say is an indication the average players are returning to the state’s casinos.

In Carson, the story was, once again, table games, even though that category accounted for a small percentage of gaming win compared to slots. Game and Table win was down 54 percent in August but that’s because of a tough comparison a year ago when win was up nearly 64 percent. Slot win was up 3.4 percent or $279,000 but that wasn’t enough to offset the $500,000 decrease in table games.

Both North Shore and South Shore casinos at Lake Tahoe suffered big declines.

South Shore casinos at Stateline were hit hardest with a 33.6 percent or $9.5 million drop to just $18.88 million. Like Carson Valley, those casinos faced a tough comparison, up against a 32.6 percent increase last year. Lawton said one major difference, according to resort operators, was a year ago, August featured eight major concerts. This year there were just four. Table games win fell 52 percent and slot win 21 percent.

North Shore casinos are Crystal Bay saw total win fall 15.7 percent to $2.79 million. That is a decrease of $520,000. Slot win was down 13 percent and table games win off 24.3 percent compared to a year ago.