State gaming win, paced by Strip, comes back strong in August

Any thoughts that July’s slight downturn in gaming win was the beginning of a trend were dispelled Thursday after the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported gaming win in August was $1.21 billion.

The state’s 3.5 percent increase for the month was paced by Clark County’s $1.02 billion take with the Strip contributing a whopping $659.7 million.

“Nevada continued to record gaming win amounts in excess of pre-pandemic levels in August with $1.2 billion in win,” said Michael Lawton, the Control Board’s senior economic analyst.

“This month’s total win was up 26.7 percent over August 2019. August represented the 18th consecutive month that the state has recorded $1 billion in monthly gaming win.”

Win from the state’s 435 licensed casinos was higher than last year, despite there being one less weekend date in 2022.

“I think people forget that July 2021 was an all-time record for any month, so it was not a surprise that this July might miss the mark,” Lawton said. “However, August came in about where I had anticipated, down 8.2 percent sequentially compared to July. Historically, August has averaged close to a 9 percent decrease compared to July, which I figured if that held true, we would see an increase year-over-year over August 2021.”

Lawton credited the city’s strong special events calendar that drew thousands of out-of-town visitors. He listed Katy Perry’s residency at Resorts World returning in August, Allegiant Stadium concert performances by the Red Hot Chili Peppers on Aug. 6, Los Bukis on Aug. 12 and the Weeknd on Aug. 20. Local favorite The Killers performed at T-Mobile Arena Aug. 26, and the Raiders had two preseason football games.

In addition, a new property, the Legends Bay Casino, opened its doors at the Sparks Marina on Aug. 30.

Most games on the casino floor flourished in August and one gaming analyst said it didn’t appear visitors were scared off by inflationary pressures.

“Broadly speaking, demand was resilient in light of macro concerns and higher gas prices impacting the consumer. For the LV Strip, relative to August 2019, table games drop was 9 percent higher, slot handle was 40 percent higher,” said Joseph Greff, gaming analyst at J.P. Morgan.

But he noted baccarat drop — the amount wagered on the Asian game of choice on the casino floor — was 6 percent lower and hold, the amount won, also was down slightly.

Lawton said most casino games had solid increases from August 2021.

Slot win of $847.1 million increased 2.5 percent, and coin-in of $11.5 billion was up $605.3 million, or 5.5 percent, year over year.

Table games win of $361.4 million increased 6 percent ($20.5 million), and games drop of $2.4 billion increased 1.6 percent from August 2021.

Baccarat win of $96.7 million increased 3.9 percent and baccarat drop of $624.8 million increased 0.9 percent. Baccarat’s hold percentage was 15.48 percent vs. 15.03 percent last year.

Nevada sportsbooks won $16.1 million, up 12 percent compared with August 2021 due to a hold percentage of 3.93 percent versus 3.35 percent last year.

Sportsbook wagers totaled $408.7 million, down 4.4 percent compared with August 2021. Sports wagers made through mobile apps won $9.9 million, up 14.8 percent, on $292.9 million in wagers, down 1.3 percent, holding 3.4 percent. That amount accounted for 71.7 percent of total sports wagers.

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