Football, Mayweather-McGregor bout send up Nevada gaming win

Thank you, Floyd Mayweather. You too, Conor McGregor.

And a tip of the helmet to football.

The return of football and the Mayweather-McGregor boxing match propelled gaming win on the Strip in August and gave the state a 14.9 percent boost to $989.5 million for the month.

The state Gaming Control Board on Friday reported double-digit percentage increases in win for the month in half of the 18 state markets it monitors.

Visitation off

But visitation to Southern Nevada fell for the third consecutive month in August, a result of what experts say was a tough comparison to a record August 2016, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

For the month, visitation was off 2 percent to 3.56 million people. Occupancy dipped fractionally, but the average daily room rate was up for the month.

The Mayweather-McGregor fight, which pitted boxer Mayweather against popular mixed-martial-arts champion fighter McGregor, produced a record $65 million handle for a boxing match and its presence resulted in spinoff play on other games the weekend around the event.

But it was football — and baseball — that boosted what was an all-time record for sports gaming win.

Football win was up 111.8 percent for the month to $6.6 million for preseason NFL and college wagering, and baseball win was up 772 percent to $8.6 million for the month.

‘Tremendous event’

“The month of August was very successful, the fight was a tremendous event and was a large contributor to gaming win for not just sports wagering but also table games and slots,” said Michael Lawton, senior research analyst for the Gaming Control Board’s Tax and License Division.

“We felt that this fight would live up to the hype and deliver a great month for statewide gaming win, and it did not disappoint one bit,” he said.

While the handle for the fight, won by the undefeated Mayweather, helped produce the record sports win, it was not a record for the amount of bets taken. The May 2015 handle for “other” bets included what sports books wrote for the Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao boxing match.

Lawton said one reason the May 2015 handle was higher was because that month includes wagering on NHL’s Stanley Cup playoff games, which generally perform well and are lumped into the “other” category.

Big Strip increase

Clark County, up 16.1 percent for the month, benefited most in the state with a 21.3 percent increase on the Strip to $545.5 million, a 13.4 percent increase to $48.5 million in downtown Las Vegas and a 10.6 percent increase to $8.9 million in Mesquite.

Laughlin climbed 6.9 percent to $30.1 million, North Las Vegas was up 1.7 percent to $24.8 million, the Boulder Strip inched up 0.8 percent to $74.2 million, with the balance of the county up 11.9 percent to $100 million.

Sports pool wagering win was up 788.6 percent to $18 million, and the house won 10.9 percent of the time. Normally, the sports pool win percentage is around 5 percent.

The three-month win for the quarter ending in August, generally a more accurate accounting of gaming trends, was up 4.3 percent statewide and in Clark County and up 3.7 percent on the Strip.

While visitation trails last year’s pace by 0.9 percent to 28.5 million over eight months, the average daily room rate during the period is up 4.2 percent to $129.44, and the citywide occupancy rate is up 0.9 percentage points to 90.1 percent.

Convention attendance, up in August by 2.5 percent to 567,951, is up over eight months by 6.2 percent to 4.7 million.

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