Nevada’s Casino Revenue Reaches $1.4 Billion In July
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The Nevada Gaming Control Board, Nevada’s regulatory body, revealed that Southern Nevada’s players hit casinos so often in July, the most ever in state history, breaking “monthly gaming win records” across the state as well as on the Strip. These, in addition to other state-licensed casinos, which totaled 439, made a profit of $1.4 billion during the said month, which is up 6.7% than in 2022 when the total number of casinos was 453.
Big profits:
When looking at the individual figures, there is Clark County which earned $1.2 billion from punters of which licensed casinos of the Strip earned $834.9 million, which further represents a “record” for this particular market. As for slot machines income, even though it wasn’t at a record level, it brought in a significant profit, as well as baccarat earnings. Commenting on the significant growth in profits and the reasons behind it, the Gaming Control Board’s senior economic analyst who complies the state’s monthly gaming statistics, Michael Lawton, commented: “The Reader’s Digest version of what drove this month’s record win amounts is slot win, which although wasn’t an all-time record, it was the third-highest total all time for the state and the second-highest total for the Strip. Then, of course, the baccarat figures are incredibly strong albeit due to extremely elevated hold,” Lawton said. “Those baccarat totals led to the second highest game and table win totals all-time for the state and the Strip. When you put it all together, a new all-time record for the state and the Strip was established in July 2023.”
What’s more, in the mentioned month, Nevada had a profit level above the level before the pandemic. Total gains nationwide were up 37% compared to July 2019, and July 2023 marked the “29th consecutive month” that the state made over $1 billion in monthly gaming profits. However, for the period to the end of July, the Strip’s profit increased by 6.5%, and Nevada’s profit by 4.1%.
Good casino income across US:
However, this increase in profits for Nevada casinos coincided with the announcement of good profit results from casinos across the country. On a related note, the American Gaming Association (AGA) announced income of $16 billion for the period ended on June 30, which compared to the same quarter in 2022 was up by 8.1%. This data represents the “second-best” quarter in the history of the entire industry, with the first place being held by the 1q23, which was “10th straight quarter” of annual growth.
Nevada’s general fund benefited from July’s tax revenue:
Since the vast majority of gaming taxes are calculated on a % of income collected, Nevada’s general fund profited from July’s revenue. In this regard, the state generated $95.8 million in “percentage fees” from casinos as of Tuesday, August 29, according to July earnings. Additionally, it was 5.9% more than in 2022.
Furthermore, $176.9 million in gaming tax income collected during the first 2 month of FY 2023-24, up 5.4% from 2022, went into the aforementioned Nevada’s general fund “through the state’s maximum gaming tax rate of 6.75 percent.”
The influx of tourists to the Strip as a reason for higher earnings:
According to Lawton, “the Strip’s success was due to an event-packed calendar, as in previous months.” Beside the Independence Day held in July for which tourists stayed for a “four-day weekend,” few “entertainment residencies and sports events” were also arranged such as:
- “Usher’s residency returned to Dolby Live inside the Park MGM July 1-15;
- Garth Brooks’ Plus One residency resumed at the Colosseum inside Caesars Palace July 6-23;
- UFC 290 was held at T-Mobile on Arena July 8 with the main event including a featherweight title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Yair Rodriguez;
- The CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal was played between Mexico and Jamaica at Allegiant Stadium on July 12. Showtime; Championship Boxing featured a welterweight title fight between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. on July 29 at T-Mobile Arena;
- Allegiant Stadium hosted another soccer match on July 30 when England’s Manchester United faced Germany’s Borussia Dortmund in a USA Tour 2023 game.”
However, in addition to the events, luck also helped the casinos on the Strip to experience an increase in profits. Speaking of which, although the volume of baccarat has declined, the casino income earned from punters has increased. In this regard, the regulator revealed baccarat income of $193.3 million, the sixth-biggest of all time, increasing 40% compared to 2022.
As for the decline in baccarat, the sum invested fell 1.4% to $822.1 million. As for the hold, it was 23.52%, the “highest since June 2003”, compared to 2022 when it was 16.56%.
Income from table games and slots:
For table games casinos earned $513.1 million, up 7.7% from 2022, the “second highest of all time” after the $531.4 million earned in February 2013. The table’s decline dropped 1.6% from July last year to $2.9 billion, and the hold rate was 17.62%, up 16.09% from 2022, the biggest since April 2020.
Slots accounted for the largest share of winnings across the state at $890.8 million, a 6.1% increase compared to the last year. In addition, coin-in profit was $12.5 billion, a 3.1% growth compared to July 2022, and slots profit percentage was 7.14% compared to 6.93 from 2022.
Next came sportsbooks, with profit of $25.3 million, 55.7% increase from 2022. Sports gamblers wagered $408.2 million, fall of 2.7% compared to 2022. However, casinos retained 6.19% of bets compared to 3.87% from July 2022. Mobile bets were considered 65.7% of total sports bets, down 2% from 2022. Commenting on the issue, Gaming industry analyst Brendan Bussmann of Las Vegas-based B Global, commented: “Despite economic headwinds, I am encouraged about what’s in store for Las Vegas casinos in the months ahead. This sounds like a broken record but the trajectory will still continue and there may be a few bumps along the way. While inflation has been tempered, it still is an issue.”
