The Golden Goose bleeds

If Nevada state government is short of tax revenues to fund the massive, "wish-list" budgets they've allowed to balloon out of control for years, they can always go back to the fat cats, right?

After all, the big casinos in this state rake in billions in profits; it's not as though their viability would be impaired if they were tapped for just a few hundred million more in this time of bureaucratic need. Right?

Actually, stung by the economic uncertainty that keeps some vacationers at home while others wrap their wallets in duct tape, Nevada's major casinos posted a net loss of $6.8 billion in fiscal year 2009, a 1,040 percent plunge from the $721 million earned in the prior year, according to a report released Friday.

The annual Gaming Abstract issued by the Gaming Control Board tracks casinos that gross $1 million or more in gambling revenue. It's only the second time the state's biggest casinos had a loss. The last loss was in 2002, right after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when casinos lost $33.5 million, reports Control Board analyst Frank Streshley.

The 260 casinos included in the latest report for the fiscal year ended June 30 had total revenue of $22 billion. Of that, $10.5 billion came from gambling revenue, which declined 12.7 percent.

And the slump is hardly because these joints are overstaffed: The Control Board reports the major casinos employed 177,397 people in 2009, roughly 25,000 fewer than the year before. That's 25,000 people who -- if they're still here -- sure aren't buying new cars or eating out as often.

The casinos still pitched in $778.7 million in gambling taxes and fees to state coffers last year, representing 7.4 percent of their gambling revenue.

The state's largest industry needs first aid, not more bleeding.