Carson Valley lone Nevada gaming market to see 2016 decrease

Every gaming market in Nevada showed a year-over-year increase in 2016 – with one exception.

That exception is the Carson Valley reporting area that includes the valley portion of Douglas County along with Carson City. But Carson Valley was down just two-tenths of a percent for the calendar year.

Carson Valley casinos won a total of $100.4 million in 2016. That decrease followed a 3.2 percent increase in total win during 2015 – the only calendar year increase in the past 10 years. The problem was game and table win that fell 12.9 percent because of a 10.8 percent decrease in the total amount wagered during the year.

Statewide, total win was $11.3 billion, up 1.3 percent for the year. Win has now increased in six of the last seven calendar years. But Gaming Control Board analyst Mike Lawton said that total is still below the $12.8 billion peak in calendar 2007.

Beyond Carson Valley, all markets were up and the largest increases were in the two Lake Tahoe markets. North Shore casinos were up 6.2 percent after a 3.1 percent increase in 2015. Casinos at Crystal Bay raked in $26.4 million, an increase driven by Game and Table win that increased by more than $1 million to $7.3 million.

South Shore casinos at Stateline were second, reporting a total increase of 5.2 percent in win, a total of $216.4 million in 2016. That increase is one of just four annual increases at Stateline in the past 15 years and ends three consecutive decreases for the market.

Washoe was up 4.3 percent to $809.6 million during the year. Washoe win has been up in three of the past four years.

Churchill County reported total win of $20.3 million in 2016. That is 2.5 percent up from the previous year.

The vast majority of that total is from slot play — $19.5 million. Just four of the 10 non-restricted locations in Churchill County offer sports pools and table games.

Lawton said he is optimistic for this calendar year.

“I anticipate continued increases to visitation, large convention attendance and a heavy events calendar,” he said. “Positive indicators and positive national economic trends should continue spilling over into the state’s casino floors.”

Statewide Game and Table win was $4.1 billion, a decrease of about 4 percent. Table game win has now decreased for three consecutive years. The problem is baccarat which is down 5.3 percent after a 14.3 percent decrease in 2015 primarily because of the Chinese government’s restrictions on taking money out of the country.

Total games win excluding baccarat is up 2.1 percent. It was up 3.1 percent in 2015 and has increased in five of the last six years.

Within the table games category, sports betting again set a record at $4.5 billion wagered, up 6.4 percent from the year before. That is the seventh consecutive record in the total wagered on sports.

Slot win totaled $7.2 billion for the year, a 2.3 percent increase after a 3.8 percent increase in 2015. Slot win increased in every major market statewide and generated 63.6 percent of total win.

Lawton said those numbers and the continuing growth in not only slots but table games other than baccarat are “a testament to the mass market customer who is again driving the state’s gaming growth.”