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Wendover casinos reported their fist gaming win increase in five months according to last weeks report from the Nevada Gaming Control board.
Released last Thursday the April win report showed Wendover casinos win increased 2.46 percent to $14.26 million from April 2010.
“It wasn’t a spectacular increase but it was a lot better than a drop,” said gaming analyst Michael Lawton. “Like the rest of the state Wendover appears to be in a kind of holding pattern with now major upswings or downturns.”
For the fiscal year to date Wendover clubs are off less than 2.0 percent from 2010 at $135.5 million.
“Win” is a gross figure, with no operating costs or other expenses deducted. And it’s casino revenue only _ separate from hotel, restaurant or bar revenues generated by the resorts.
While win indicates a casino market’s profitability another statistic “play” is an indicator of how casino workers are fairing. With some casino workers dependent on tips for up to half of their total income, play, the amount of money wagered by gamblers is a good indicator of how much casino workers received in tips and how many gamblers are actually in the casino.
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Wendover casinos have seen both their win and play numbers on a general decline since the Great Recession hit the border town in 2007. Currently the Nevada/Utah border town is running close to 20 percent less in gaming win than it was during its heydays of the mid-2000’s.
As usual slot win made up the bulk of Wendover’s total. At $11 million Wendover slot win total was up 0.8 percent from the same month last year while slot play increased 4.0 percent to $198 million. Slot hold dipped slightly from 5.74 percent in April 2010 to 5.56 percent in April 2011.
While slot win held its own, win from table games and sports betting had a significant surge of 8.3 percent to $3.1 million. Table play was up 8.9 percent to $14.5 million. Table hold dropped slightly from 21.19 percent to 21.10 percent.
Win from the Blackjack outshone every other game with a win increase of 10.8 percent to $1.7 million.
But while Wendover casinos are still struggling those in Elko, Wells and Jackpot are booming.
April win in the balance of the county was a robust 9.14 percent for April. Slot win increased an even 10 percent. Slot play was up almost 13 percent while slot hold fell from 7.06 percent to 6.88 percent.
On the games side, win was up 2.5 percent to $948,000. Table play was 1.5 percent to $4 million. Hold increased slightly from 23.5 to 23.27 percent.
For the fiscal year clubs in the balance of the county are up 3.4 percent to $81 million.
For the entire state, Casino winnings in Nevada stayed in an up-and-down pattern into April, with statewide figures showing that the house won a little bit less compared with the same month one year ago.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board said Thursday that statewide gambling revenues were $806 million in April, compared with $810 million in April 2010 — a drop of less than 1 percent.
But the state collected $42.6 million in taxes based on the revenue, $2.9 million more that the amount collected during the same month last year — an increase of 7.3 percent.
Analyst Joseph Greff of JPMorgan Chase & Co. told investors in a note that the state’s results were hurt by the methods regulators use to count slot revenues. Michael Lawton, a senior research analyst with the state board, said the state’s slot revenues would have been up about $30 million had April 30 — a Saturday this year — counted with April revenues.
Lawton said casinos count slot revenue five days a week, typically avoiding weekends because they don’t want to interrupt the flow of gambling.
“It’s kind of a complicated month,” Lawton said.
“We estimate that (about) $16 million in slot win will be recognized in May,” Greff said. “Normalizing for the slot issue, we estimate that April slot win would have been (up) 2.5 percent, versus (down) 4.3 percent.”
Lawton said the taxes were up despite revenue being down because of credit play and collections from prior months. Lawton said that when players lose money gambling on casino credit, casinos tally the monthly revenue but it isn’t taxed until the winnings are actually collected.
After a double-digit jump in March, Las Vegas Strip casino winnings were down 2.2 percent to $427.5 million. Revenue from casinos on the Strip made up just over half the statewide revenues in April.
Greff said the Strip’s revenue would have been up 1.4 percent had its revenues for the last weekend of April been counted with the rest of the month, and slot machines kept an average win percentage.
Gamblers traded in less money for chips and slot credits than the year before, Greff said.
Casinos in Lake Tahoe and Elko County reported the largest percentage jumps compared with the prior year.
Casino taxes account for about a third of state general fund revenues.