Baccarat, slots put dent in August casino wins statewide and on Las Vegas Strip

LAS VEGAS ( KLAS ) — Nevada casinos won $1.16 billion from gamblers in August, the second-lowest monthly total in the past two years, according to numbers released Thursday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

The gaming win has dropped for two consecutive months on the Las Vegas Strip, which usually sets the tone for Nevada. In August, Strip casinos won $643.7 million — declining from July’s $709.3 million and June’s $758.6 million.

Officials cited baccarat and slots as the primary drivers for the August decline.

Overall, the state gaming win was down 3.80% compared to August 2023, with the Strip down 3.46%.

Big declines also happened on the Boulder Strip, downtown Las Vegas and Laughlin. Locals casinos grouped in the “ Balance of Clark County ” category came back to earth after a big July, posting $143.7 million in winnings compared to July’s $171.2 million. Locals casinos were still up 1.47% compared to last August.

• Boulder Strip: $64.8 million, down 21.83% from August 2023 ($82.9 million)
• Downtown Las Vegas: $58.4 million, down 8.78% from August 2023 ($64.0 million)
• Laughlin: $32.7 million, down 5.0% from August 2023 ($34.5 million)

Mesquite was one of the few bright spots in August, posting a 10.2% increase over last year.

“Bottom line, baccarat did not perform well on higher volumes, table games volumes were up as well and slot volume recorded the highest total all year,” according to Michael Lawton, senior economic analyst for the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

“However, due to the month ending on a Saturday, we won’t see that slot drop and revenue from that last weekend of the month until September in several markets,” Lawton said.

He cited numbers that showed the baccarat win was down $39.9 million. The slot win was down $31.4 million.

Baccarat play tilted in favor of gamblers as the house’s win percentage dropped, causing baccarat win to decrease by 33.8% on the Strip. Casinos still won $75.7 million. Usually reliable slot wins on the Strip also declined slightly, down 0.39% compared to August 2023. Slots on the Strip accounted for $366.9 million in casino winnings — about 57% of the Strip’s total win.

August’s wins at the state level and on the Strip were both the second-lowest totals since April 2023, when the Nevada gaming win was $1.16 billion and the Strip was $624.7 milllion.

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