In October, Nevada casino gaming revenue faced a small drop but still succeeded to top the $1b mark for the sixth time this year.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board released figures on Tuesday which show statewide casino gaming revenue of $1.02b in the month of October, drop 3.8% from the same month last year and drop a similar slice from September 2019’s tally. Gaming revenue is up 2.5% to $4.06b for the first four months of Nevada’s current fiscal year.
October’s fall was more noticeable on the Las Vegas Strip, where casinos reported revenue falling 5.1% to $538.5m. Downtown Vegas casinos managed far better, rising 7.1% to $68.3m.
Slots revenue rose less than 1% to $699.1m, while ‘table, counter & card games’ fell 12.6% to $322.8m. Most of the main table games faced serious declines, led by blackjack ($92.3m, -26.5%), baccarat ($56.7m, -25.6%) and roulette ($28.2m, -30.3%), while craps was basically flat at $31.7m. By comparison, the state’s poker tables saw a clear bump, rising almost one-quarter to $10.8m.
Sports betting offered another positive note, as sportsbook revenue boosted 62.1% to $47.9m despite betting handle increasing only 2.9% to $544m. For the record, in October New Jersey’s sportsbooks reported revenue of $46.4m and handle of $488m, very close to upsetting Nevada but just out of reach.
As mentioned on the Calvinayre.com website, most of Nevada’s October sportsbook upsurge came via football, which saw revenue rise 131.6% to $26.2m. Football betting hold hit 7.36%, a four-point increase from October 2018, which saw a wave of favorites cover their spreads.
Also, Nevada’s books got a big bump from Major League Baseball’s World Series and from the highly advertised major wagers placed by Jim ‘Mattress Mack’ McIngvale, which drove baseball betting revenue up almost 40% to just under $11.5m. Also, parlay cards were strong performers, increasing 68.2% to $4.5m.
From a pessimistic view, basketball fell 5.2% to $3.5m, the ‘other’ category was down almost 41% to $2.2m while the state’s pari-mutuel race books fell 6.9% to $2.6m.
