The investment community – rocked by the stock market’s ups and downs the past few weeks – expressed relief from Nevada’s November gaming results, particularly the Las Vegas Strip.
A 10 percent increase in gaming revenues produced by Strip resorts during the month, thanks to healthy results from high-end baccarat play and increases across the board in sport betting, fueled a statewide jump of 6.4 percent that turned out to be a late Christmas present.
“Bottom line, revenues were strong, with normalized mass market revenues up 6.8 percent,” Credit Suisse gaming analyst Cameron McKnight told investors.
According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, Las Vegas Strip gaming revenues reached $534.5 million in the month, up 10 percent from a year ago. November also marked the second straight double-digit monthly increase on the Strip. The Las Vegas Strip accounts for roughly 55 percent of Nevada’s total monthly gaming revenue.
Statewide gaming revenues topped $967.1 million, a 6.4 percent increase compared to November 2017.
Through 11 months, Nevada gaming revenues are up 2.9 percent. Gaming Control Board Senior Research Analyst Michael Lawton said Thursday every reporting market in the state is up for 2018 heading into December.
The November results, coupled with the expected large celebration in Las Vegas for the New Year festivities, should help the state end 2018 on a high note. Tourism officials expect 318,000 people to travel to Las Vegas for the holiday and nearly all the city’s more than 147,000 hotel rooms to be booked.
Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Chad Beynon said the Las Vegas Strip “appears to have recovered strongly from the weakness that operators experienced in third quarter.”
The revenue driver on the Las Vegas Strip was baccarat. The high-end game produced revenue of $97.8 million, a 50.6 percent increase, with wagering on the game up 24.3 percent to $804.4 million.
Meanwhile, sports gamblers wagered $581.1 million in November, a single-month record for the state, eclipsing the $571 million wagered in September. Revenues from sports betting grew 173 percent to $27.1 million.
“The recent double-digit growth is better than we expected,” said Union Gaming Group analyst John DeCree. “Baccarat bounced back over the past two months, up about 16 percent quarter to date, in spite of unusually low hold in October. Sports betting win also bounced back, facing an easy comp to last November.”
Strip casinos saw table game win increase 17.7 percent and slot machine revenues grow 1.3 percent.
Las Vegas also saw a healthy increase in visitation during the month. Visitor volume grew 5.4 percent to 3.48 million tourists in November and convention attendance grew 15.6 percent to 613,000. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said citywide occupancy was at 88.1 percent with revenue per available room at $112.98, up 13.5 percent.
Adding to the positive results in Las Vegas was McCarran International Airport, which saw passenger volume grow 4.5 percent to 4.09 million travelers. The month was the busiest November in the airport’s history and the ninth consecutive month that passenger counts have exceeded 4 million.
“In our view, normalized mass market revenues are the best indicator of market growth and health.” McKnight said. “They include slot machines, which represent 50 percent of Las Vegas, and excludes the volatile baccarat business, in which only a handful of casinos participate.”
In Northern Nevada’s Washoe County, which includes Reno, Sparks and North Lake Tahoe, gaming revenues grew 9.53 percent, ending two straight monthly declines.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming Reports. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
