For several months now, Nevada’s gaming revenue has been disappointing. In an attempt to control the spread of the coronavirus, Governor Steve Sisolak mandated the closure of casinos and video poker bars in March. This action resulted in two months of gloomy revenue reports for the gaming industry.
During the closure of casinos, only four sportsbook apps and one poker website in Nevada were generating gaming revenue for the state. However, now that casinos have reopened, they are once again contributing to the state’s gaming revenue.
Nevada gaming revenue in June
Year-over-year, gaming revenue in Nevada has declined, but a resurgence is being seen as casinos were permitted to reopen in June. Officially, casinos in the Silver State reopened on June 4.
Today’s casinos exhibit numerous differences. The major shift in gaming revenue stems from the limited capacity at video poker and slot machines, table games, and bars.
The impact of the 50% capacity limits can be observed in the gaming revenue of the month. The casinos in Nevada earned $566.8 million in the 27 days they were operational in June. The Nevada Gaming Control Board’s monthly revenue report for June revealed that the sum wagered in the state had decreased by 45.5% compared to the same period in the previous year.
In June 2019, casinos in Nevada earned $1.04 billion.
As expected, the Vegas Strip, popular with tourists, experienced a more significant drop in percentage than local casinos. The Strip’s casinos reported gaming revenues amounting to $238.2 million, indicating a decrease of 61.3% compared to 2019’s revenue of $616.6 million.
Casinos in other districts also experienced losses, but they were less significant. For instance, Reno only experienced a decline in revenue of 8.5% compared to the figures reported in 2019.
Primarily serving as a tourist hotspot, Downtown Las Vegas also caters to local residents. This region of Nevada experienced a marginally lesser decline than the Strip. From the same period last year, casinos in Downtown Las Vegas witnessed a 55.56% fall.
Rough month for sportsbooks
Examining the games where casinos gain and lose the most and least money monthly is always interesting. Contrary to the last two months, the report appears to be normal. Casinos in Nevada made the most money from over 43,000 penny slots, which is more than the combined total from all other slot machine denominations (nickel, quarter, $1 and up).
In June, Nevada casinos reported the following net wins: Penny slots brought in $174.7 million, Blackjack earned $54.5 million, Baccarat made $47.5 million, Craps won $19.9 million, and Roulette garnered $16.5 million. However, sports betting resulted in a loss of $483,000. This data comes from the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
David Payne Purdum tweeted this on July 29, 2020.
For the first time since July 2013, Nevada sportsbooks experienced a loss. Their 83-month winning streak over bettors came to an end with a loss of $548,000 in June 2020.
The annual loss is attributed to the opening of brick-and-mortar casinos. Gamblers didn’t get the opportunity to gather their winnings from bets placed inside casinos while they were shut down.
This loss is primarily due to football. Football wagers that remained uncollected before casinos shut down resulted in bettors winning $5.2 million. Now that a majority of bettors have collected their outstanding winnings, it is anticipated that Nevada sportsbooks will commence a new winning streak against bettors come July.
Nevada sports betting revenue falling behind
States that have recently legalized sports betting, such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania, are beginning to surpass Nevada in sports betting revenue. Given their larger populations, this development isn’t entirely unexpected.
Additionally, the states have far more user-friendly procedures for registering on mobile sports betting apps.
Both of these factors can be seen in the sports betting revenue for the second quarter. Despite Nevada being the most developed sports betting market, its in-person account registration is enabling emerging states to stand out.
- New Jersey: $337 million
- Pennsylvania: $212 million
- Nevada: $134 million
For the past ten years, Nevada has been offering mobile sports betting apps. However, unlike in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, players are required to visit a casino to establish and finance an account for the first time. Although subsequent mobile funding is available, it incurs a processing fee, which is not the case in other states offering online and mobile sports betting.
Despite its significantly smaller population possibly hindering Nevada from catching up with other states, permitting bettors to register and fund their accounts through mobile platforms can ensure it remains competitive.
Furthermore, the state could benefit from a method to increase its tax revenue, given it missed out on six weeks of earnings from its major taxpayers – the casinos.
