Written by :
Published on :
LAS VEGAS — (Associated Press) - Nevada’s casinos earned less in October than they did a year ago, dropping nearly 2.9 percent to $887.6 million for the month despite gamblers spending more money to play.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board released statistics Monday that show revenue from gambling dropped more than 5 percent on the Las Vegas Strip to $493.6 million. Mesquite's revenue, however, was up 2.61 percent to $114.8 million from last year.
The lucrative but volatile card game baccarat continued to drag down statewide figures dropping nearly 22 percent to $79.1 million during the month on top of an already significant drop a year ago. Both the amount spent playing baccarat and the percentage casinos kept was down for the month. Of the $26.1 million the state was off from last year, baccarat losses accounted for 84 percent.
Gamblers spent nearly $12.1 billion trying their luck on table games and slot machines during the month, up 1.8 percent compared to a year ago, but casinos kept less of it.
"That's tough to overcome," said Brent Pirosch, a gambling industry analyst with commercial brokerage firm CBRE, referring to the casino hold, essentially what it kept of what was gambled.
Pirosch has said he's still bullish on revenue improving from non-VIP gamblers. He said once baccarat is stripped out of longer-term trends, the year-to-date numbers show a slow but steady picture of improvement.
