Nevada gambling revenues soar 11.2 percent in August

Casino owners and politicians in Nevada alike will be pleased with the 11.2 percent y-o-y rise in August casino revenues reported Monday by state regulators.

Casinos state-wide won $955.3 million from gamblers in August, an increase of $96 million compared with the same month a year ago.

Baccarat high rollers made a substantial contribution to the boost, wagering over a billion dollars to deliver $193.6 million in revenue, up 55.6 percent or $69.2 million. It was the fourth-largest monthly baccarat win in state history, Mike Lawton, senior analyst with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, told the Associated Press news agency.

Though the total volume of betting action was down $13.1 million, the house win percentage was 18.5 percent, up from 11.9 percent in August 2012.

“It was the highest baccarat hold percentage since June 1999,” Lawton said. “The house ran extremely hot. It’s pretty much an anomaly, what that hold percentage was.”

Excluding baccarat, casino winnings state-wide would still have registered a 3.7 percent gain, or $26.8 million.

“The month was really carried by baccarat but other games had a strong month, too,” Lawton said.

Big resorts on the Las Vegas Strip won $816.7 million, a 12.3 percent increase over August 2012. Clark County as a whole saw gambling revenues spike nearly 20 percent.

In Washoe County, casinos won $73.8 million, up 8.4 percent and the largest rise recorded since 2009 in the county, which has seen gambling revenue gains in five of the last six months.

Revenue won by casinos in Reno were up 9.7 percent, Lawson reported.

Overall, gamblers wagered $11.3 billion on card and table games and slots machines. $2.6 billion was bet on card games, of which $1 billion was wagered on baccarat. Game and table win was up $110.7 million, or 35 percent. $8.7 billion went into the slot and video gambling machines – an increase of $21.3 million on the same period last year.

The state of Nevada collected $51.3 million in gambling taxes from the August casino revenues – a 3.5 percent increase from the same month last year.