State gaming win falls 10.9% during March

Nevada's casino win dropped off by 10.9 percent in March compared with the same month a year ago.

Gaming Control Board analyst Mike Lawton said the win - the casinos' take from gaming, excluding food, drinks, lodgings or other revenue - dipped $104 million to $854.6 million despite an additional Saturday and Sunday.

He said, however, that because the month ended on a weekend, some slot revenue won't be reported until the April numbers come out.

The March decline came after five straight months of growth.

The Carson Valley area, which includes portions of Douglas County as well as the capital, reported a 2 percent overall decrease to $8.45 million. Game win was up nearly 18 percent, but both the win percentage and volume of slot play were down. Primarily a slot market, Carson earned just $550,000 of its March total from games.

The ConExpo convention in Las Vegas helped to boost revenue in March 2011. That event occurs every three years, Lawton said.

However, casino win percentages were still well below average for game and table play this year, he said. Game and table win was down 18.5 percent, but that is also partially because of a tough comparison with a year ago, when game win was up 19.4 percent.

Baccarat win fell by more than 50 percent as the win percentage came in at just 8 percent. The average for that game is 12.6 percent.

Likewise, the hold percentage for "21" was 9.9 percent compared with the average 11.8 percent.

Slot win was down 6.7 percent statewide.

Most southern Nevada markets including the Strip were down by double digits in March. The Vegas Strip was off by almost 15 percent.

By comparison, the north fared much better. Washoe County markets were all up except for Sparks, where the win fell 2.4 percent. Overall, Washoe casinos were up by half a percent to $61.4 million.

North Shore casinos at Crystal Bay had a rare positive month in March, reporting $1.84 million in win for a 9 percent increase.

South Lake Tahoe casinos, however, were down more than $12.7 million, a 14 percent decrease on top of the near 30 percent decrease in March 2011. The problem was that the win percentage, which was just 4.77 percent.

Churchill County casinos suffered a small decrease for the month - 1.1 percent to $1.9 million. Win from the multi-denominational machines that make up the majority of units in Churchill was down 4 percent, wiping out the 20 percent increase in games win. Games win, despite a 214 percent increase in "21" play, made up just $57,000 of the county's total.