Better January numbers for Nevada land gambling

Baccarat, the game of choice for many high roller gamblers and therefore a major contributor to overall land casino win in Nevada, delivered $137.7 million of January’s $952.7 million casino win, again raising regulator concerns at the reliance operators place on the consistent performance of the game.

Nevada Gaming Control Board analyst Mike Lawton told the Associated Press news agency that baccarat casino win represented an increase of 69 percent compared with a year ago, although the amounts wagered were 13 percent lower y-o-y.

That drop was the fifth consecutive month that baccarat wagers have declined, and that worries Lawton despite the ultimately better casino win.

January’s overall Nevada casino win of $952.7 million represented an 8 percent year-on-year rise in casino win, with gambling revenue up 15 percent on the Las Vegas Strip and 14 percent in Reno. But the winnings didn’t extend to downtown Las Vegas, where the win was down more than 10 percent.

Nevada collected $68.4 million in taxes based on the month’s gambling revenue, about 2 percent less than a year ago.

Slot betting – the most popular of casino games with the public – was up 4.9 percent to $8.9 billion in the state.