October gaming win rose slightly

But figure still 19.5% lower than in 2019

Visitors avoiding playing in Strip casinos are taking a toll on gaming win and the tax revenue it generates.

While October casino gaming win inched upward from September, it was still the eighth consecutive month of declines from 2019, the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported Tuesday.

The board reported casino win of $822.7 million, 19.5 percent less than in October 2019. In September, the state’s casinos won $821.1 million, which was 22.4 percent below the previous year.

Restricted capacities in casinos and tourists staying away during the coronavirus pandemic are affecting casino win, a percentage of which goes to the state’s general fund in gaming tax.

Unused transferable tax credits collected in the 2020 fiscal year and moved to 2021 are keeping gaming tax collections stable. The Control Board reported $125.8 million in unused credits have resulted in collections of $355.2 million for the first five months of the fiscal year, a 14.9 percent increase over the previous year. But October tax revenue was down

18.9 percent to $50.5 million.

Southern Nevada win appears to be declining more than the rest of the state’s markets with double-digit percentage declines in Clark County, the Strip, downtown Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, the Boulder Strip and Laughlin, but better than October 2019 in the state’s other 13 monitored markets.

In Clark County, win was off 23.6 percent in October to

$671.8 million, with the Strip down

30.2 percent to $376.8 million and downtown Las Vegas off 22.7 percent to $52.8 million.

Michael Lawton, senior research analyst for the Control Board, said the Strip accounted for 82 percent of this month’s total decrease and 87 percent of the statewide decrease since gaming operations resumed in June after a 78-day closure.

Downtown results caught the first days of win revenue generated by Circa, which opened its doors to the public Oct. 28. But October win also had the advantage of a favorable calendar with two more weekend days open than in October 2019.

“The performance of several markets which showed year-over-year increases was the result of the favorable calendar in addition to the fact that these markets rely on a combination drive-in traffic and local play,” Lawton said. “The recovery is going to be uneven between markets that rely on local play vs. markets that rely more on destination air travel.”