Local casino had a great October while bad news on Vegas Baccarat tables hit the state hard according to this week’s report from the Gaming Control Board.
Wendover clubs reported 13.61 percent increase in gaming win to $16.52 million this October. the total gaming win for the state fell 2.85 percent or $26 million from October 2014.
“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.
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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 10.7 percent to $12.5 million. Slot play was up 7.1 percent to $214.9 million. Slot hold increased from 5.61 percent in October 2014 to 5.6 percent this October.
On the tables win was up 23.7 percent to $4.1million. Play was up 14.7 percent to $17 .3 million while hold grew from 21.77 percent to 23.47 percent.
Total gaming win for the balance of the county dropped by -1.47 percent to $7.7 million.
With the exception of Las Vegas the rest of the state also did well this October. Even Las Vegas would have had a black October had it not been for a dismal play on the Baccarat tables. The last time there was such a drop in baccarat play was weeks before the chinese stock market crashed this summer sending the rest of the world scarily close to a recession.
Months before this crash of the Chinese stock-market this summer, signs China’s economy was headed for a fall might have been discerned in the sudden and dramatic decline in baccarat play among Chinese rollers at Las Vegas casinos.
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 summer’s crash in the Chinese stock market by at least four months.
China’s stock market was riding high in mid-June, but troubles began when the market went into a slide that took it down by 30 percent in early July. Shares lost more than $3 trillion in market value. Over half of the companies listed in Shanghai suspended trading.
Since that near crash this summer China may have righted itself at least officially. Macau gaming win fell more than 30 percent in November year-over-year, a performance for the region’s casino industry that unfortunately was worse than anticipated.
The casinos there won $2.1 billion from gamblers during the month, 32.3 percent less than a year ago, the local government said on Tuesday.
Gaming revenue fell 28.5 percent in October, which was the first month since January that the drop wasn’t more than 30 percent. Casino win has fallen 18 straight months after a meteoric rise for casino industry.
According to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, analysts were expecting November to more comparable with October. China’s slowing economy is partly to blame.
Through the first 11 months of this year, gaming win is down roughly 36 percent. Revenue last year was $44 billion, roughly four times that of Nevada.
