Bad timing? Gaming win in Nevada declines again in August

The second straight month of gaming win decline in Nevada was likely the result of bad timing, the Nevada Gaming Control Board said Thursday.

Analysts also said players were luckier than the casinos during the month with a lower percentage of money held on table games.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority also reported Thursday that August visitation was up 2.4 percent to 3.4 million people.

The Control Board reported gaming win of $1.16 billion in August, a 3.8 percent decline from the same month last year. Clark County win was down 4.4 percent to $980.9 million with Strip win off 3.5 percent to $643.7 million. Downtown Las Vegas win fell 8.8 percent to $58.4 million.

But the largest decline came on the Boulder Strip, which was down 21.8 percent to $64.8 million.

“A lot of the volatility you are seeing in downtown and the Boulder Strip is the result of the month of August ending on a Saturday,” said Michael Lawton, senior economic analyst for the Control Board who crunches the state’s monthly gaming statistics.

“As a result of the timing of slot collections falling into September, the revenue will be recognized and reported to the board in September’s filings. The strip was negatively impacted by a low baccarat hold as total win excluding baccarat increased by 2.8 percent or $15.5 million. Additionally, slot revenue timing negatively impacted the Strip.”

While most of Southern Nevada’s submarkets showed declines, the Mesquite market rose 10.2 percent over August 2023 to $14.4 million.

“Mesquite benefited from the extra weekend days in the month vs. last August in addition to some stronger promotions compared to last year,” Lawton said.

Gaming analyst Joe Greff of New York-based J.P. Morgan said the hold percentage for table games, particularly baccarat, also played a role in August’s decline.

“For the Las Vegas Strip, table game hold was 14.1 percent, versus 16.5 percent the prior year and a 15 percent average over all of 2023,” Greff said in a Thursday report to investors. “Baccarat hold was 10.5 percent, versus 17.8 percent in the prior year, 15.2 percent in 2019 and the normalized 13-14 percent range.”

Greff said the unfavorable calendar comparison is a quirk in Nevada’s gaming reporting but, in this case, made the numbers look worse than they actually were.

The LVCVA’s visitation report showed August to be a good month.

Despite convention attendance being down 1.4 percent to 638,300, occupancy rates were up 0.9 percentage points to 81.2 percent for the month and the average daily room rate was up 11.7 percent to $175.44.

The number of arriving and departing passengers at Harry Reid International Airport was up 5.1 percent to 4.8 million for the month, keeping the 2024 total on a record pace.

The top five domestic air carriers all showed increased passenger counts in August with No. 2 Spirit Airlines up 19.4 percent to 762,701 passengers and No. 1 Southwest Airlines up 1.9 percent to 1.8 million.

Kevin Bagger, who heads the LVCVA’s research team, said August numbers benefitted from Labor Day weekend straddling August and September this year.

“Weekend occupancy reached 90.2 percent, up 0.4 points, supported by Labor Day weekend and the presence of the Def Con convention during the second weekend of the month,” Bagger said. “(Average daily room rates) and (revenue per available room) saw year-over-year increases of 11.7 percent and 12.9 percent, respectively.”

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.