Casino Gaming Win in Nevada Slides Down for the Month of February

The state of Nevada has earned more than $53 million in gambling taxes on casino profits produced in February 2008, a 2.8% improvement from the gaming collections the previous year. Still, gaming wins are still 3% below the predicted total gaming wins from the past nine months and 8% less than what the state's economic forum have predicted.

On April 15th, 2008, Gaming Control Board Senior Research Analyst Frank Streshley commented that the time of getting the tax collections on credit by the casinos put into the figures. For the present fiscal year, the state of Nevada has received $570.9 million in gambling taxes, which is down by 2.9% compared with the $588.5 million for the same time in 2007. The economic forum of Nevada had predicted $620.5 million would be received during the first 9 nine months of the year; $49.6 million has been received by the state.

Despite the Chinese New Year celebration, the Super Bowl weekend, the Presidents Day and an extra day because of the leap year, gambling profits all over the state slide down by four percent, giving the people in the analysts in Wall Street a valid cause for concern. On the Las Vegas strip, casino profits slide down by three percent compared with the same period last year due to a smaller hold percentage in the game of baccarat and other casino table games.

A lot of casinos are expecting a significant drop in their profit. Deutsche Bank gambling analyst Bill Lerner said that the gambling profits may have dropped this year but they are hopeful that it will not be as horrible as expected. The total gaming win for February was $1.014 billion, a dropped of 3.9% from $1.056 billion the same period last year.

On the Las Vegas strip, gambling win was $556.6 million , a three percent drop from $574.7 million in February 2007. Gaming profits fell down in every area of Nevada except for two areas; Carson Valley, particularly Carson City and the location called the "balance of Clark County," which includes several areas like Red Rock Resort and South Point Balance of Clark County gambling profits were $107.8 million, a 1.1% increase from $106.7 million from the same period last year.

Gambling analysts commented that the local casino markets have slide down more than six percent in February when the results from the Boulder Strip (which is down by 14%) and North Las Vegas (which is down by 13.3%) were considered in. Gaming profits shows what the casino received from customers and before taxes and the payroll of the employees and other expenses of the casinos are taken into consideration.

The senior research analyst for the Gaming Control Board, Frank Streshley commented that there is a downward pattern for overall gaming profit all over the state. The game of baccarat also added to the downward trend.

The amount bet on baccarat on the Las Vegas strip was $1.041 billion, which improved from two percent from $1.025 billion. But that win of $116 million was small compared with the same period a year ago.

Monday, May 05, 2008
Kate Foster