Wendover casinos had one of their best July’s in even years according to this weeks report from the gaming control board.
Wendover clubs reported $14,412,343 in gaming win, an over 14 percent increase over the same month last year.
“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.
Slot win was up 18.5 percent to $11.8 million. Slot play was up 16.8 percent to $211.5 million. Slot hold increased from 5.52 percent in July 2014 to 5.6 percent this July.
On the tables win was up 0.5 percent to $2.6 million. Play was up 11.5 percent to $13.5 million while hold grew from 18.97 percent to 21.05 percent.
Total gaming win for the balance of the county increased by 2.22 percent to $7,572,318
million.
Slot win was up 1.5 percent to $6.7 million. Slot play was down 0.1 percent to $101.9million. Slot hold increased from 6.47 percent to 6.57 percent. On the tables win was up 8.24 percent to $876,000. Play at $3.9 million was up 4.7 percent.
But while Elko County did great the Great Fall of China again his Vegas hard with the decline in baccarat play. Total win for the state was down almost one percentage point to $922,886,804.
According to Gaming Control Board analyst Michael Lawton, the total amount bet on baccarat had been sliding, increasing just three times year-over-year in the last 12 months.
In March alone baccarat play fell over 30 percent. Baccarat now makes up 15 percent of total gaming win in the state and nearly 38 percent of Game and Table win.
This spring the Chinese government began a massive crack down on graft and corruption which either put many baccarat players in jail or made them much more cautious about taking gambling junkets to Las Vegas.
With the perfect vision afforded by hind sight the drop in baccarat play presaged this week’s crash in the Chinese stock market by at least four months.
While Vegas has been hurt by the drop off of Chinese gamblers, Macau has been positively devastated.
Gambling revenue in Macau dropped 35.5 percent in August from a year earlier, sliding for fifteen months in a row – more evidence of a deepening downturn that prompted the territory’s government to announce on Tuesday it would tighten fiscal spending.
Casino revenues in the world’s biggest gambling hub tumbled to $2.3 billion, as China’s slowing economic growth has exacerbated a gambling slump caused by a broader crackdown on conspicuous spending.
The figures come on the heels of data showing Macau’s economy, which relies on the territory’s 36 casinos for over 80 percent of tax revenues, shrunk 26.4 percent in the second quarter – its third straight quarter of double-digit declines.
Macau’s government announced that all public sector expenditure will be subject to “austerity measures” including the freezing of a certain percentage of assets and services included in the annual budget.
