CARSON CITY – Lucky baccarat players on the Las Vegas Strip were a major contributor to a 4.7 percent decline in Nevada statewide gaming revenues in May, the Gaming Control Board reported today.
The win amount from the card game played by high rollers on the Strip totaled just under $61 million in May, a decline of 37 percent compared to May 2009, according to the monthly gaming win numbers released by the state agency.
Frank Streshley, Tax and License Division chief for the agency, said the win percentage held by casinos on the game was 8.4 percent in May compared to more than 13.2 percent a year ago. The difference meant $34 million less in revenue to the casinos, he said.
As a result, the total statewide win in May was $847.2 million, down from the $889.2 million reported in May of 2009. The Strip brought in $450.2 million, down 6.4 percent from the $480.8 million won in May of 2009.
On a brighter note, downtown Las Vegas was down less than 1 percent to $42.9 million.
“This is the best month percentage-wise in over two years since June of 2008,” Streshley said.
The North Las Vegas market was up nearly 9 percent to $22.6 million. The Boulder Strip was up 5 percent to $67.7 million. Washoe County was down nearly 8 percent to $70.4 million.
The May decline follows a 5.7 percent statewide gaming revenue decline in April.
Streshley said that in addition to the baccarat play, a couple of other factors had an effect on the May report. One positive was the Floyd Mayweather-Shane Mosley fight May 1 at the MGM Grand. A negative on the revenue total was the fact that there was one less Friday in May 2010 than May 2009.
While a stronger baccarat win would have made a marked improvement in the May gaming win, Streshley said another factor appears to be in play. Nevada’s small but gradual improvement in gaming play appears to have stalled, mirroring the stock market decline and other national economic indicators, he said.
audio clips:
Gaming analyst Frank Streshley says the Nevada gaming slowdown appears to mirror the nation:
070710Streshley1 :37 has stalled somewhat.”
Streshley says baccarat players were lucky and affected the gaming win:
070710Streshley2 :15 the monthly win.”
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