The State of Baccarat in Las Vegas

On April 10, 2007, it was reported that Las Vegas' gaming wins for the month of February were around $1.055 billion, which is a 2.9% increase from $1.026 billion compared to the same period last year, according to the statistics that have been released by the Gaming Control Board.

Analysts commented that the increase in gaming wins was traced to the bets that were placed by baccarat players that were attracted to play at the strip during the Chinese New Year. Last year, the gaming wins across the state were around 12.8% compared to February 2005. On the Las Vegas Strip, the gaming profits were around $574.7 million in February, which improved to about 4.3% more compared to the gaming profits of about $551 million.

During February, players placed bets of up to $1 billion on baccarat, about 54.3%, which was more than what was placed in total bets in February 2006. Total casino wins from baccarat were about $116.4 million, which improved by about $37 million or about 46.9% more compared to the same period before.

Frank Streshley, a Senior Researcher from the Gaming Control Board, said that without baccarat, the total wins for the Las Vegas strip suffered a 2.9% slide. The Gaming win was off in some places in the state in February. The total gaming wins from the slot machines in Nevada was around $634.1 million, which is a loss of around 2.1% compared to February 2006. The gaming wins from casino table games was around $408.4 million, which is an improvement of about 11.5%.

Dennis Forst, a gaming analyst from KeyBlanc Capital Market, commented that he is keen on what will be new development in terms of gaming wins in 2007. Clark County has reported gaming profits of about $901.8 million or a 3.7% increase from the $870.1 million win last year.

Aside from the casinos in Las Vegas, the casinos in Mesquite posted a 26.8% improvement and the total balance of the county improved by around 14.7%. The casinos downtown of the Las Vegas strip stated a profit drop for the ninth month now. The casinos won a total of $50.7 million in February, which is off about 6.2% from a total of $54 million last year.

Thursday, April 19, 2007
Kate Foster