Strip leads fall as Nevada gaming revenue decreases once more in March.

Strip leads fall as Nevada gaming revenue decreases once more in March.

 Data from the Nevada Gaming Control Board released Tuesday shows that a 5% dip for the Las Vegas Strip helped to explain a general statewide revenue drop in March.

 With a 1.1% annual decline, the state's March gross gaming income came out overall at $1.27 billion.  Nevada gaming is down 1.14% from last year, a record for the Silver State, for the fiscal year as it stands now.

 With a GSR of $681.7 million for the month, down 5% YoY, the Las Vegas Strip posted  With January excluded, the Strip has lately shown YoY declines in seven of the last eight months.  gambling income in America's gambling capital is down 3.35% as we head into the last run of the fiscal year.

 Strong months from downtown Las Vegas ($85 million, +11.5%) and the Boulder Strip ($86.3 million, +10.2%) helped Clark County overall to be just down 1.75% despite the fall in the Strip.  Though down ($162.8 million, -2.5%), the Las Vegas locals market is still up 6% year-to- date with over $1.4 billion in GGR.

 For the southern part of the state, these auxiliary markets have performed admirably while the Strip tries to equal past year performance.  Mesquite, the local market, and Downtown are all showing stronger fiscal years than any of Nevada's northern regions.

 The outcomes from baccarat still lag.
 The March drop in the Strip could be partially ascribed to baccarat, and generally speaking, the game's performance matches the market overall.  The Strip generated baccarat GSR of $73.3 million in March, down more than 34% YoY.

 GGR from the game is down 3.5% YoY for the first quarter of the year; but, zooming back to the previous 12 months, that statistic falls to -15.6%).  Apart from only baccarat, table game performance for the Strip has been unfortunate generally.

 Strip table game GGR fell 16.6% in March, coming to $262 million.  The sector is down over 3% for the quarter and over 7% for the past 12 months.

 Reno sets the pace for the north.
 For the northern Nevada markets, March was by and mostly a forgettable month; Reno was exception.  With a 10% YoY increase, The Biggest Little City landed at $57.6 million.  Reno is increased 1.3% to this point, the best of any big northern market with $573.5 million in GGR for the fiscal year.

 Reno had a fantastic month for table gaming ($10.2 million, +12.3%). Unlike the Strip.  Additionally up more than 10% was the slot GGR of $47.4 million for the market.

 Other sizable northern markets were largely down, including South Lake Tahoe ($14.7 million, -7%) and Sparks ($14.9 million, -2%).  At $25 million Wendover, the second-highest grossing northern sector behind Reno, had a flat month.

 March Madness sports bettors gain large amounts.
 The whole business lamented the outcomes of this year's March Madness since favourites came through in great numbers.  With Florida eventually defeating Houston to earn the national title, all four No 1 seeds progressed to the Final Four for the first time since 2008.

 Stateside sports betting GGR for Nevada was $22.2 million, down more than 25% YoY.  Of that, $15.5 million came from mobile betting; down 40%  Particularly basketball betting came in at $24.5 million, a 24% decline.

 With a decline just 16.6% to $7.5 million, The Strip performed somewhat better.  Drop 20% to $10.6 million, basketball results matched the state overall.

 Visitation falls as recession worries linger, trade war
 The revenue statistics for Las Vegas (and Nevada generally) are maybe less important than the drop in visitation.  Fears of how international travel could be disrupted due to growing trade disputes and worries of a future recession top of mind for a city and state based on tourism.

 With total visitor volume in March down roughly 8% YoY, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's newest data shows 3.38 million visits.  This came despite daily room rate rises both on the Strip (3.9%) and the city generally (3.1%) as well as a 10% increase in conference tourism.

 Harry Reid International Airport welcomed 4.84 million passengers, a YoY drop of 4%.  From all the highways, daily car traffic was 135,402, up 2%.