Double-digit increases in Las Vegas drove Nevada gaming revenue to an 11 percent jump in October.
Results compiled by the Nevada Gaming Control Board show the state’s casinos won nearly $990 million, up from $949 million in September and $887 million in October 2015.
Favorable hold played a big part. Casinos statewide kept 14.3 percent of table game wagers versus 11.1 percent last October. This was especially noticeable in baccarat, a major game on the Las Vegas Strip, which delivered a 10.2 increase in revenue to the house despite the fact that wagers were down almost 32 percent from a year ago.
“The casinos ran luckier than they did last year, or the customers ran unluckier,” said Gaming Control Board senior analyst Michael Lawton.
Slot win totaled $631.6 million statewide, up 10.4 percent from October 2015.
Las Vegas propelled the robust performance. Win on the Strip was up 14 percent over October 2015. In the suburbs, Downtown Las Vegas and North Las Vegas each reported winnings up more than 29 percent. The Boulder Highway casinos were up more than 23 percent.
Gaming revenue statewide is now up 5 percent year on year in the fiscal year since July 1 and up 2 percent through the first 10 months?a modest upward trend, but a promising one, according to analysts, who expect it will continue into next year based on Las Vegas’ resurgence as a tourist and convention destination.
“We expect non-gaming revenues, 65 percent of gross revenues on the Strip, to continue to offset pressure on gaming stemming from weak baccarat play into 2017,” Fitch Ratings said in its latest report on the U.S. casino industry. The firm’s Alex Bumazhny, who authored the report, characterized it as “reassuring”.
“Despite casinos like Wynn and Bellagio having a pretty sizable exposure to baccarat, they were still able to at least have pretty stable profitability compared to previous periods or even growing profitability,” he wrote.
“Baccarat in the U.S. is a bit tricky to understand because it’s been inconsistent globally,” he added. “But Macau also has been under pressure in the past couple of years. And a lot of that has to do with the corruption crackdown in China and also the economic slowdown in China. But things are stabilizing in Macau, and we expect the U.S. to stabilize as well when it comes to the same type of demographic, the high-end affluent players from China.”
It’s a key segment of the Vegas market, too, and observers expect the expansion of direct air service from China, coupled with Chinese-centric resort offerings such as the new 200-room Lucky Dragon casino hotel and the planned 2019 opening of Genting’s Resorts World Las Vegas, to go a long way toward driving it upward.
Earlier this month, Hainan Airlines, China’s largest commercial carrier, launched non-stop thrice-weekly flights from Beijing, and Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport has a new “China Ready” program in place to complement the new arrivals, featuring Chinese-language signage, Chinese-speaking greeters and the ability to support the country’s popular WeChat social networking and mobile wallet app.
Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President Rossi Ralenkotter said the route is expected to generate an estimated $33.5 million annually in direct visitor spending for Southern Nevada.
“As far as visitation goes, we feel there will be visitation growth because there’s more air capacity,” Bumazhny said. “But it doesn’t require much visitation growth to Las Vegas in order to drive profitability.”
Currently, international travelers account for 16 percent of annual visitation to Las Vegas and generate an estimated 30 percent of revenue.
