Chinese New Year Brings Huge Win To Nevada Gaming Industry In January

CARSON CITY – It was the month the Nevada gaming industry and state political leaders were waiting for: the casino industry won more than $1 billion from gamblers in January, a double-digit rise fueled by a nearly 30 percent increase on the Las Vegas Strip.

The reason:  The Chinese New Year came in January instead of February this year. The celebration, which brings high rollers into Nevada’s casinos, ran from Jan. 23 to 29.

Photo by Mai-Linh Đoàn via Wikimedia Commons.

Nevada casinos brought in $1.04 billion in January compared to January 2011, an 18.4 percent increase even though much of the northern part of the state posted negative numbers, the state Gaming Control Board reported today.

“This is the first time the state has recorded $1 billion in win since September of 2008,” said Michael Lawton, senior research analyst for the control board. “That’s four consecutive increases the state has experienced, that’s the first time since April through July of 2007. Also, the Southern Nevada markets, every market was in positive territory. That hasn’t happened since September of 2007.”

A big part of the reason was a huge win from baccarat play on the Las Vegas Strip. The card game played by high rollers brought in nearly $195 million for an impressive 199 percent increase over January 2011. The baccarat win was the second largest ever recorded in the state.

The total gaming win on the Strip was $623.5 million, a 29.2 percent increase over January 2011.

Downtown Las Vegas saw a 13.7 percent increase, North Las Vegas was up 15.6 percent and Laughlin saw a 6.3 percent jump in January.

The big driver in the statewide increase was in game and table win, which brought in $435 million, an increase of 50.1 percent, Lawton said. That is the third largest statewide win from games and tables, which includes baccarat, for any month, he said.

“The bottom line the state won $1 billion in gaming revenue and that hasn’t happened since September 2008 so it was a very, very good month,” Lawton said.

The expectation is that the February gaming numbers will be strong as well and may show an increase over February 2011 even without the Chinese New Year celebration, he said. The February numbers will be driven in large part by the Super Bowl.

The story was different in Washoe County, which saw an overall gaming win of $53.7 million for a 6.2 percent decline over January 2011. Reno was down by 8.6 percent and Sparks was off by 0.4 percent. The Carson Valley area, which includes the capital, was down 3.7 percent.

Lawton said operators indicated that the weather was almost too nice in January, allowing people who might come to the casinos to play golf or pursue other activities instead.

Gaming  tax collections, which the state relies heavily on to fund services, did not track with the overall gaming win but Lawton said that is due to credit extended to gamblers in January.

Gaming taxes collected from the win amount actually declined in January 2012 over the prior year by 16.5 percent, bringing in $57.4 million. For Fiscal Year 2012 through January, tax collections are 2 percent below the prior year.

But Lawton said the low tax collection numbers will improve significantly in February, when the credit extended by casinos to high rollers is collected.

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Audio clips:

Gaming control board analyst Michael Lawton says January is the first $1 billion win since September of 2008:

030812Lawton1 :23 September of 2007.”

Lawton says the bottom line is January was a very good month:

030812Lawton2 :09 very good month.”

Lawton says game and table win, with baccarat, drove the numbers:

030812Lawton3 :12 or $129.7 million.”

Lawton says February 2012 could show an increase even without the Chinese New Year festivities:

030812Lawton4 :19 to last February.”