Casino gaming win in May was flat against year-ago figures — just as analysts expected they would be — but Clark County, boosted by a healthy Strip performance, reached the $1 billion level after its 11-month streak ended in April.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board on Wednesday reported casino win of $1.29 billion, 0.8 percent off May 2022’s mark from its 438 licensees. In Clark County, the 219 licensed casinos won $1.1 billion from players, down 1 percent from last year.
Michael Lawton, senior economic analyst for the Control Board, explained why comparative results will be so challenging in future months.
“The state has recorded decreases in two of the last three months,” Lawton said. “Over the next year, every monthly comparison will be up against the highest monthly total for that particular month or the second highest total for that specific month. Needless to say the comparisons are going to be the most difficult the state has ever faced.”
It was a mixed bag of results across the state’s 20 casino markets with seven higher than last year and 13 lower. Southern Nevada’s worst performer was North Las Vegas, off 6.6 percent from a year ago to $24.2 million, while outlying Clark County was up 6.5 percent to $150.2 million.
The most improved market in the state: South Lake Tahoe, which was up 11.3 percent to $19.5 million. But the market with the biggest decline statewide was North Lake Tahoe, off 20 percent to $1.7 million.
Strip gaming win fell 2.1 percent for the month to $716 million, and downtown Las Vegas was off 6.6 percent to $73.6 million.
Regardless of the seemingly negative tone of the report, May’s numbers were relatively strong.
The statewide total was the eighth highest month of all time, Clark County’s and the Strip’s figures were the ninth best ever and downtown Las Vegas was 15th highest all time.
Lawton began sounding the alarm about the potential for tough comparisons against prior months after seeing March results.
Gaming industry analyst Joseph Greff of New York-based J.P. Morgan, said higher hold percentages — the percentage of wagers won by casinos — and higher drops — the amount wagered — helped catapult May win well above prepandemic May 2019.
“For the Strip, table game hold was 15.8 percent, versus 15 percent the prior year and a 14 percent average over all of 2022,” Greff said in a Wednesday note to investors. “Baccarat hold was 16.9 percent, versus 17.1 percent the prior year, 7.7 percent in 2019 and the normalized 13-14 percent range. Relative to May 2019, table game drop was 4 percent higher, slot handle was 36 percent higher, and baccarat drop was 11 percent higher. In the Las Vegas Locals market, gross gaming revenue increased 4 percent year-over-year (28 percent above 2019).”
Lawton again attributed wide-ranging special events as a catalyst to drawing more patrons to the slots and tables.
He cited the return of the Electric Daisy Carnival May 19-21 and multiple entertainment residencies: the Chicks at the Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood (six concerts beginning May 3); Katy Perry at Resorts World (May 12-28); Garth Brooks at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace (beginning May 18) and Bruno Mars at Dolby Live Theatre at Park MGM (beginning May 24).
With one month remaining in the 2022-23 fiscal year, state gaming win is up 3.8 percent to $13.9 billion, while Clark County is up 4.2 percent to $12 billion and the Strip up 5.4 percent to $7.8 billion. That means for those 11 months, Clark County was responsible for 86.6 percent of the state’s gaming win and the Strip contributed 56.3 percent of the state’s winnings.
Gaming win — gross gaming revenue — is important to the state because it taxes those winnings and directs them to the state’s general fund. As of Tuesday, state officials collected $84.3 million in gaming taxes from May, raising the 11-month total to $971.2 million. That’s a 0.7 percent increase from 11 months in the 2021-22 fiscal year.
While slot machine and sports wagering revenue were up in May compared with last year, table games, including blackjack, craps and baccarat were down.
Slot win in May was $877.9 million, up 0.9 percent, while coin in — the amount inserted in machines — was down 0.8 percent to $11.8 billion. Slot win percentage was 7.43 percent compared with 7.31 percent in May 2022.
Nevada sportsbooks won $30.1 million, up 11.4 percent from a year ago with a hold percentage of 5.7 percent compared with 4.8 percent last year. Bettors wagered $527 million, down 6.2 percent from last year and of that, $358 million was bet from mobile devices, down 10 percent from last year. Mobile bets represented 67.9 percent of sports wagers.
Table, counter and card games win was $411.2 million, down 4.4 percent from a year ago, with game drop off 7.9 percent to $2.7 billion. Game hold was 15 percent compared with 14.5 percent last year.
Of those games, blackjack win was down 2.7 percent with volume off 20.9 percent with hold increasing to 15 percent from 14 percent. Craps win was down 19.4 percent with volume off 6.1 percent and hold declined 16.7 percent from 19.4 percent.
Baccarat win of $133.8 million decreased 0.5 percent while the drop increased 0.5 percent to $794.3 million. Baccarat’s hold percentage was 16.8 percent vs. 17 percent last year.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.
This evening, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo will provide the 2025 State of the State address ahead of the incoming 83rd legislative session, which begins Feb. 3, 2025.
Lombardo is anticipated to cover a number of topics including the economy, inflation, education, housing, and more.
In addition, Carson City 5th grade choir students will be performing at the address, and a Seeliger Elementary student will be singing a solo.
Watch the full address here, which will begin at 6 p.m.
CARSON CITY — Gov. Joe Lombardo will give his 2025 State of the State Address at 6 p.m. today in Nevada’s capital, where he will share his goals and priorities ahead of the upcoming legislative session.
“I look forward to sharing the progress my administration has made since my inaugural address, and I’m excited to outline my common-sense vision for our state ahead of the upcoming legislative session,” Lombardo said in a statement, highlighting efforts to keep taxes low, balance the state budget and bring investments to education and the workforce.
“As we look ahead, I’m eager to build on our progress in education, economic development, healthcare, housing, and public safety,” he said.
Every biennium, two weeks ahead of the legislative session, the governor delivers a State of the State Address that outlines his agenda and provides a framework for what lawmakers can expect over the course of the 120-day session.
In last November’s election, Lombardo successfully fended off a possible Democratic supermajority in both chambers that would have allowed Democrats to override any of his vetoes, greatly reducing his power. While Democrats still hold majorities in both the Assembly and Senate and can set their own agenda, any bill they pass must ultimately be signed into law by Lombardo, who is accustomed to wielding his veto power — having vetoed a record 75 bills in the 2023 session.
Ahead of the governor’s address, the Nevada State Democratic Party launched an ad titled “Expensive,” accusing Lombardo of raising costs for families due to his 2023 vetoes. The party pointed to housing bills that would have capped rent increases for seniors and would have established a new summary eviction procedure for tenants, as well as bills that would have guaranteed school meals to public school students and lowered the price of Medicare-negotiated prescription drugs.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com and McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah and @mckenna_ross_ on X.
None of the Mountain West Conference games are going to be easy and Air Force proved that to Nevada on Tuesday night.
The Falcons took Nevada to the wire before the Pack recovered and came away with a 68-62 win in front of 7,430 fans at Lawlor Events Center on Tuesday.
Tre Coleman led Nevada with 18 points and nine rebounds and Kobe Sanders had 11 points as the Wolf Pack improved to 2-0 in the Mountain West, 10-7 overall. Coleman also had four assists and Sanders had five.
The six-point margin at the end was Nevada’s largest lead of the game.
Next, Nevada hosts San Jose State, at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Spartans upset New Mexico, 71-70, on Tuesday.
There were 10 lead changes and seven ties. Air Force led, 60-59, with 3 minutes, 21 seconds left.
Kobe Sanders hit a bucket to give Nevada a 61-60 lead with 2:36 remaining, then Daniel Foster hit a 3-pointer to give the Pack some breathing room.
Ethan Taylor led the Falcons (3-14, 0-6) with 22 points and Kyle Marshall added 12.
Nevada coach Steve Alford said he liked his team’s fight. saying they won the last four minutes of the first half, 12-4 and the last four minutes of the second half, 12-2.
Nevada was dismal from the free throw line, connecting on 10-of-23. including four straight in the final minute.
The Pack missed the front end of four free throws, which Alford said actually made them 10-of-27 from the stripe.
“If we make our foul shots, then this game is a different look,” Alford said. “It’s really an odd deal because we started out the year so well (on free throws) and now we’ve got to be one of the worst fouls shooting teams in the league. It was an ugly game because of our foul shooting.”
Nevada had 30 points in the paint, to 18 for the Falcons.
Nick Davidson was 0-for-5 from the free throw line and he stayed well after the game Tuesday night shooting free throw after free throw. He had nine points and four assists in the game.
Air Force hit 10-of-27 from 3-point rahge and Nevad awas 6-of-014 from the arc.
Foster started and played 29 minutes, scoring five points on 2-of-4 from the field.
Alford said Foster does what the coaches want him to do.
“Daniel has a incredibly competitive mind. He wants to win and he knows he can influence wins without scoring. He guards like crazy. He rebounds. He gets loose balls,” Alford said. “And now we’re asking him to play some point (guard) to help Kobe out.”
Air Force led 35-33 at the break after the Wolf Pack tied it at 33 . The Pack trailed by 11 (31-20) with 5:06 left in the half.
Nevada made just 2-of-8 free throws in the first half, including three misses on front ends of one-and-ones. The Pack was 3-of-9 from the arc. Air Force made 5-of-6 free throws and 6-of-12 from 3-pont range.
Nevada leads the overall series with Air Force 18-3 and has won five straight in the series.
San Jose State plays Nevada at Lawlor Events Center at 3 p.m. Saturday.
The Spartans (9-10, 2-5) beat New Mexico 71-70 on Tuesday night.
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