Coming off the heels of May, a month many regarded as the best single month for both Nevada and Las Vegas since December 2013, it seems gaming revenue took a step back in June, dropping 8 percent year over year to 0.9 million, with the Strip declining 16.3 percent to 5.5 million.
It appears that per usual, baccarat was the culprit for the decline. The $64.7 in baccarat revenue for the Strip was a decline of 53.7 percent from the year before, a month that marked the highest revenue for any June, ever. The low hold of 9.4 percent was astonishingly lower than the 12.4 percent of the previous year.
Even forgoing baccarat, revenue on the Strip would have still been down 3 percent. Table games, minus baccarat, hauled in $157 million for the year, nearly even, down 0.3 percent on the year. Slot machine revenue came in at $230.8 million, down 4.1 percent for the month.
Not all is bad when it comes to gaming revenues, however. For the first half of the year, while Strip revenues are down 1.4 percent, statewide totals are up 0.6 percent. In one respect, it might sound a little troubling when you consider tourism numbers continue to grow, but the fact of the matter is, the consumer’s dollar is simply getting pulled in more directions than ever before in Las Vegas.
In addition, other markets in the state have been strong, with downtown Las Vegas gaming revenue jumping 2.2 percent, the Boulder Strip growing 6 percent, and South Lake Tahoe skyrocketing 44 percent. The South Lake Tahoe region did get some help with the opening of the Hard Rock Resort. Michael Lawton, senior research analyst for the Gaming Control Board is waiting until August to see where the state’s gambling numbers stand. According to Lawton, That is when baccarat winnings began to slide last year.
Another interesting note from June is that even though convention attendance was down a whopping 16.6 percent, overall tourism in June set a new record, where the 3.6 million visitors showed a 2.4 percent increase over June 2014. At the mid-way mark, the 21 million visitors this year is 1.5 percent higher than last year’s record pace. Occupancy rates hit 90.4 percent on the month, while average daily room rate was down 0.7 percent at $114.34. However, for the first half of the year, the average daily room rate has increased 1.5 percent to $122.81.
