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Gaming win down in August as major Nevada markets struggle

Geoff Dornan / Nevada Appeal

While Nevada’s major gaming markets continue to struggle, smaller, primarily local markets are doing better and are at or above what they were a year ago before the pandemic shut down the economy.

Still hardest hit is the Las Vegas Strip which finished August at 39.2% or $317.3 million below what it was a year ago. The problem is the half-dozen major Strip resorts are still closed including Park MGM, Planet Hollywood, the Rio and Tropicana.

Clark County as a whole was down 25%, clearly accounting for the 22% decline statewide. Total gaming win for the month was $743 million.



But the primarily local markets, balance of county casinos in Clark, Washoe and Elko, were actually up — 1.6%, 6.5% and 7.3%, respectively.

The Carson Valley area, which includes valley casinos in Douglas County, was up a bit — six tenths of a percent to $9.3 million or $60,000.



In Carson Valley, pretty much everything except multi-denominational slot play was down. But that category was up more than 26%, accounting for $5.9 million of the total win. That increase more than offset the 34%, $148,000 decrease in games win.

South Shore Casinos at Tahoe were still down, reporting $21.9 million total win for a 7.6% decrease compared to August 2019. Table game play was up substantially — 26% to $6.5 million. But slot play was down more than 17% to $15.3 million.

The increase in games win was attributed to the “Other Games “category — the small market euphemism for Baccarat play. That category was up nearly 207% or $975,000 primarily because the percent casinos held was over 24% compared to 9% a year ago.

At the other end of the lake, North Shore casinos at Crystal Bay reported just $2.3 million in win. That is 14% or $376,000 less than a year ago. Game and table win was actually up six tenths of a percent to $537,000. But the majority of North Shore win comes from slots, which were down 17.6% to $1.77 million.

Washoe County overall was down 12% to $76.3 million for August. The majority of the problem was in Reno itself where total win was $55 million, a 14.8% decrease. Sparks was also down but only by 6.7%.

In Churchill County, total win was $1.7 million. That is a 4% decrease from a year ago. The problem was the 78% decrease in game and table win — $413,000 in all. But slot win was also down a bit — 1.47%.

While struggling overall, Clark County did have some bright spots. Mesquite was up 9.48% to $10.6 million and the Boulder Strip was up 29.6% to $70.9 million. Both are primarily locals markets.

In Elko County, Wendover, which depends primarily on visitors from Utah, was down 8.3% to $17.2 million. The “balance of county” which includes the city of Elko — again primarily local — was up 7.3$ to $8.7 million. Total win was $25.9 million there.

Finally, sports pool win was down 9.3% or $1.7 million for the month. The total amount wagered was actually up 65% but the amount books held was cut nearly in half to just 3.56%. Notably, almost two thirds of bets were made on mobile apps.


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