February’s gaming numbers for nonrestricted casinos — those with table games and 15 or more slots — from the Nevada Gaming Control Board show a statewide gaming win of $945.6 million, a 4.48 percent drop compared to February 2016, when the win was $989.9 million.
However, the win increased for the fiscal year — July 1, 2016, through February — by 2.71 percent.
Clark County saw a decline of 4.35 percent for February and an increase of 2.82 percent for the fiscal year.
The Las Vegas Strip had a 4.98 percent drop in February but saw a 3.18 percent increase for the fiscal year. On the Boulder Strip, February was down 9.12 percent, and the fiscal year was up .11 percent.
In North Las Vegas, the February gaming win dropped 7 percent but it was up for the fiscal year by 1.69 percent. In downtown Las Vegas, the February win was up 2.22 percent.
Michael Lawton, a senior research analyst with the Tax and License Division of the Gaming Control Board, said part of the monthly decline was because February 2016 had an extra day.
“February is really a difficult comparison,” he said. “Last year the state was up 8.1 percent (in February) and the Strip was up 7.3 percent. First of all, last year was a leap year and there was an extra day. That accounted for a little over 3 percent of the difference.”
“Also, Chinese New Year (a big holiday for Asian gamblers) was entirely in February in 2016. In 2017, it occurred mostly in January but with some spillover to February. So definitely, the entire impact of that holiday was in February last year.”
Lawton said a longer view of this year’s numbers could be more helpful.
“If you look at the Strip, January and February combined, the win was up 4.4 percent compared to 2016. And the two months combined, the entire state was up 3.5 percent compared to last year. It gives you clearer picture of what happened,” he said.
The impact of the calendar showed up in both the February table game and slot wins.
“Slot win was $581.7 million, a decrease of 4.6 percent. But like I said, your one day short. The 4.6 percent decrease can be explained by missing that one day,” he said. “On the table game side, the win was $363.9 million, a decrease of 4.3 percent or $16.5 million.”
“Baccarat contributed to that. There was a decrease in the baccarat win,” Lawton said. “It was $98.4 million, down 19.3 percent and again, that decrease can be attributed to Chinese New Year being entirely in February of last year but not this year. So the Chinese New Year and leap year would explain why were down this month.”
“If you look at the longer trend, say eight months of data, it’s all positive,” Lawton said. “Overall, things are trending in the right direction.”
The story was similar in Northern Nevada.
For Reno, the gaming win was down 6.67 percent in February and up 2.44 percent for the fiscal year. Sparks saw revenue drop 5.5 percent in February.
In North Lake Tahoe, gaming revenue dropped by 3.66 percent for February and 2.16 percent for the fiscal year. Revenue in South Lake Tahoe was down 6.93 percent in February and up 6.37 percent for the fiscal year.
In the Carson Valley area, revenue was down 3.92 percent in February but up 0.35 percent for the fiscal year. Carson Valley includes Carson City, Gardnerville, Minden and all other areas of Douglas County, except South Lake Tahoe.
Based on February casino revenue, Nevada collected $51,986,240 in fees in March. That’s 2.87 percent more than last March’s collections of $50,536,977.