Nevada casino winnings fall 5.7 percent in April; state tax revenues drop 23 percent

Nevada casino winnings fall 5.7 percent in April

LAS VEGAS — Casinos in Nevada won $810.5 million in April, 5.7 percent less than the same month last year, gambling regulators said Wednesday.

The state Gaming Control Board said tax collections based on those winnings were $39.7 million in May, a 23.4 percent decrease compared with the taxes paid in May 2009.

The steepest decreases came on the Boulder Strip, and in South and North Lake Tahoe. On the Boulder Strip, casino winnings dropped nearly 13 percent to $56.8 million. The area produced 7 percent of statewide gambling revenue, compared with 8.8 percent in April 2009.

Gambling revenue on the Las Vegas Strip dropped less than 1 percent to $437.3 million. But the Strip slightly increased its share of overall statewide gambling revenue during the month, taking in 54 percent of Nevada’s total compared with 51.3 percent in April last year.

Only three areas — Carson Valley, Mesquite and Wendover in Elko County — showed any increase. The three areas made up a combined 4.1 percent of the state’s gambling revenues.

Gambling regulators said casino winnings dropped 4 percent during the first 10 months of the fiscal year, which ends this month. Casinos statewide have won $8.7 billion from July through April, compared with $9.08 billion during the first 10 months of the prior fiscal year.

Over that time, casino winnings on the Strip increased just over 0.5 percent, to $4.79 billion.

State officials said the taxes collected on gambling revenues in the first 11 months of the fiscal year were $572.7 million, down 5.3 percent from the $604.6 million through the first 11 months of fiscal 2009.