high contrast image of casino roulette in motion
Gaming win rose 14.9 percent in August to $989.5 million, driven by the Mayweather-McGregor fight in Las Vegas.
That represents a $128.4 million increase over the same month of 2016 and more than $32 million the total came from an increase in sports betting on the fight. That doesn’t count the extra revenue those fight fans contributed to the Baccarat and other games, which were also up significantly. Baccarat was up 38 percent to $101.6 million and “21” up 33.6 percent to $108.5 million.
Even with Baccarat deducted from the totals, statewide win was still up nearly 13 percent in August.
In the Carson Valley Area, which includes valley portions of Douglas County as well as the Capital, total win was $9.4 million in August — $774,000 more than last year. That translates to a 9 percent increase, Carson’s largest monthly increase since the 10.4 percent hump in July 2015 and comes on the heels of the area’s 8 percent increase in July. Mike Lawton of the Nevada Gaming Control Board said the last time the Carson Valley area had two consecutive months that strong was September-October of 2005.
In Carson, “other sports” betting — where boxing match win is reported — was up $123,000. Unfortunately, that was offset by a $150,000 decrease in “21” win.
“Sports made up for a bad ‘21’ month,” said Lawton.
But slots won 9.6 percent more than in August 2016.
North Shore casinos at Lake Tahoe reported a 10.4 percent, $296,000 increase in total win. Again, sports betting was a significant part of that increase but slot play at North Shore was also a huge factor, up 9 percent, accounting for $189,000 of that increase.
South Shore casinos at Stateline reported a 7 percent increase to $25.6 million for August, a stellar showing considering that it was up against a tough comparison. August 2016 win at South Shore was a 27 percent increase over the previous August.
Sports betting, again, was a huge factor, bringing in $617,000, $496,000 more than in August 2016.
The area would’ve done even better except that win from the craps tables was down $318,000.
Washoe County casinos had a strong month, winning $77.3 million. That’s $7.1 million more than a year ago, a 10.1 percent increase.
In Washoe, the story is rising visitation numbers. For the first time since 2006, Washoe has drawn more than 500,000 visitors in each of the past two months. Visitation is up 5.5 percent for the calendar year.
There, too, sports win driven by the Mayweather-McGregor fight, was part of the story. “Other sports” generated $991,000 in Washoe compared to just $3,000 in August a year ago.
Finally, Churchill County’s three sports pool licensees saw a nearly 730 percent increase in win. But with so few locations and a small population, the sports pool there generated just more than $15,000.
Overall, Churchill’s 10 non-restricted gaming licensees won $1.65 million in August. Because slot win fell more than 5 percent and table games constitute just a tiny fraction of total win, Churchill was down 3.8 percent for the month.