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Wendover casinos took it on the chin in February with an 8.66 percent decline in gaming win according to last week’s report from the State Gaming Control Board.
According to the report gaming win from Wendover casinos fell about $1.4 million this February to $14.57 million. It was the fifth reported decline in as many months and the lowest recorded win for the month since 2006.
“Win” is a gross figure, with no operating costs or other expenses deducted. And it’s casino revenue only _ separate from hotel, restaurant or bar revenues generated by the resorts.
While win indicates a casino market’s profitability another statistic “play” is an indicator of how casino workers are fairing. With some casino workers dependent on tips for up to half of their total income, play, the amount of money wagered by gamblers is a good indicator of how much casino workers received in tips and how many gamblers are actually in the casino.
Wendover casinos have seen both their win and play numbers on a general decline since the Great Recession hit the border town in 2007. Currently the Nevada/Utah border town is running close to 20 percent less in gaming win than it was during its heydays of the mid-2000’s.
“It’s like that all over the state,” said GCB gaming analyst Michael Lawton.
In fact compared with the Reno/Sparks gaming district Wendover casinos have weathered the downturn rather well which is down over 30 percent from 2006 gaming win numbers.
“We were hoping for some kind of turn around this year,” Lawton said of the state gaming industry. “But so far that has not happened.”
At least in February those hopes were not realized for the state and for Wendover.
According to the report total slot win for Wendover fell 14 percent to $11 million. Coin in or slot play fell 11 percent to $194.2 million while slot hold dropped from 5.89 percent to 5.69 percent.
There were however some bright spots on the Wendover report. Total win from table games and sports betting increased 15.2 percent to $3.3 million. Game play however fell 2.0 percent to $15.6 million. Hold increase from 18 percent to 21.33 percent.
Blackjack, Wendover largest money making game reported a win of $1.9 million up 20.3 percent from February. Hold on the 21 tables increased from 17.62 percent to 21.33 percent.
Win from Wendover’s sports book was also up 34.2 percent.
For the entire state Nevada casino winnings fell 6.8 percent in February compared with the same month in 2010, marking the fourth straight month of declines and the steepest drop in more than a year, state casino regulators reported Friday.
Statewide, casinos won $881.8 million during the reporting period. The $41.6 million in taxes collected by the state represent an 11.1 percent decline from the same month a year ago, according to the report from the Gaming Control Board. Taxes on casino winnings make up about a third of Nevada’s general fund revenues.
For the fiscal year that began July 1, casino revenues were mostly flat, up about 0.1 percent.
On the Las Vegas Strip, Nevada’s gambling mecca that generates half of all statewide casino revenues, winnings plunged 9.5 percent.
Mike Lawton, senior analyst with the control board, said the month-to-month comparison was difficult because winnings in February 2010 were up 13.9 percent.
Another reason is attributed to baccarat, a high-roller game favored by Asian players. Despite Chinese New Year’s, a holiday that tends to generate baccarat play, the $1.2 billion wagered on the game was down $1.2 million, Lawton said.
The report found that for the first seven months of the fiscal year, statewide casino winnings were up a little less than 1 percent.
February’s decline was the largest since October 2009, Lawton said.
“There are so many things that point in the right direction,” Lawton said about Nevada’s tourism-dependent economy. “Visitation is up, occupancy, conventions, air passenger traffic … More people are coming and spending less,” he said.
Elsewhere around the state, the casino win fell 7.5 percent in Reno; 10.2 percent in Sparks; 2.5 percent in South Lake Tahoe.
One of the few shining exceptions in the report is found among Elko County casinos outside of Wendover which showed a robust 6 percent increase from February 2010. In January Elko total gaming win shot up 14.2 percent to $8 million.
According to the Department of taxation Elko sales boomed in January a whopping 29 percent above last years numbers. And according to the state department of labor the county’s unemployment rate fell from 9.0 percent to 7.7 while the number of jobs increase from 25,400 to 25,700.
Those two reports along with January’s and February’s positive gaming win results indicate that the mining fueled Elko County economy may be emerging from the three year long Great Recession.
But Elko recovery back to economic health is not uniform and with Nevada still stuck firmly in neutral insignificant for the Silver State as a whole.
