Record haul for casinos

Nevada casinos recorded the highest-ever one-month gaming win total during May. But if baccarat players hadn't been so lucky, the revenue figure could have been even higher.

Nevada casinos won $1.143 billion from gamblers in May, eclipsing by $2 million the previous $1.141 billion record set in January 2006. May's gaming win was a 1.5 percent increase over the total from May 2006. The results were released Thursday by the Gaming Control Board.

The record total came despite a run of good luck by baccarat players. Casinos won $71.2 million in baccarat, an 18.2 percent decrease from May 2006. The win from minibaccarat was $13 million, a drop of 53.6 percent from the same month last year. Most of the state's high-stakes wagers are placed on baccarat.

"The point is that even though this is an all-time record, the high-end game dragged down the numbers," said Frank Streshley, senior research analyst for the Gaming Control Board.

He said results from other table games helped make up for the loss from baccarat. Casinos won $134 million from blackjack players, up 5.1 percent from last year; $40.9 million from craps, a 19.8 percent increase; and $37.2 million from roulette, a 15.1 percent climb.

Table games accounted for $367.5 million of the gaming win, while slot machines took in $762 million, which was an all-time record.

Gamblers wagered $2.9 billion on table games in May, an increase of 6.1 percent from a year ago, and $11.8 billion in slot machines, off just less than 1 percent.

"The month was only a $2 million increase over the previous record, but when you factor in that the gaming win in baccarat and minibaccarat was off about $30 million combined, you realize how much stronger the month could have been," Streshley said.

Sports wagering also provided a boost. The win by sports books was $5.8 million, a 478 percent increase from a year ago. Streshley said wagering on the May 5 championship fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand Garden helped fuel the increase.

"It was a combination of a good month for baseball wagering and the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight being one of the biggest fights we've seen in some time," Streshley said.

Wachovia Capital markets gaming analyst Brian McGill thought the timing of the month could have affected the numbers and held back an even stronger record figure. May began and ended in the middle of the week, which meant there was no carry-over in slot machine revenues, which often happens when the month ends on a weekend.

"While the numbers look relatively weak on the surface, after adjusting for the timing of gaming revenue collections and normalizing the hold percentage, we believe results were stronger throughout the state," McGill said in a note to investors.

On the Strip, casinos won $612 million from gamblers, a 1.4 percent increase compared with May 2006. The figure was off from the Strip's all-time one-month gaming win total of $642.4 million, recorded last November.

"On the surface, Strip trends appeared somewhat soft," Bear Stearns gaming analyst Joe Greff said in a note to investors. "Despite the soft headline, the result speaks well of continued high-end strength."

Clark County was up less than 1 percent with a gaming win of $968.4 million. Downtown casinos reported their second straight month of positive gaming win with revenues of $58.5 million, up 0.3 percent compared with $58.3 million in May of last year. Boulder Strip casinos, which include areas of Henderson, had revenues of $83.3 million, up just 0.3 percent.

Other areas of Clark County, however, had decreases. Revenues at North Las Vegas casinos fell 4.5 percent, while the balance of the county jurisdiction reported a gaming win of $119.4 million, off 0.2 percent compared with $119.6 million last May, the first decline that market has experienced in more than a year.

Analysts said the balance of the county figures reflected the first year-over-year comparison that includes Red Rock Resort, which opened in April 2006. Streshley said the softness in the locals market was somewhat of a surprise.

"We had strong numbers in the locals market in April. I'm not sure what impacted the total," Streshley said.

Wachovia's McGill, however, took a different approach to the results. He thought the trends were stronger among locals gambling halls than the numbers showed.

"On an absolute basis, gaming revenue in the Las Vegas locals market was down slightly in May," McGill said. "Given that Red Rock opened and then May was a very strong month last year, up more than 13 percent, we believe overall, it was a very good month."