For the second month in a row, Nevada casinos managed to see winnings that passed the $1 billion mark in February this year. According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, which released February numbers last week, gaming increased 7.7% compared to the same month last year. The state capitalized on a change in the dates of the Chinese New Year this year, which lead to excellent numbers all round.
Other highlights of the report included:
- Winnings on the Las Vegas Strip were up 11.4% to $603.5 million.
- Downtown Las Vegas saw winnings increase 2.8% to $53.2 million.
- Clark County (which encompasses Las Vegas), saw a total win of $888.8 million – a 7.6% increase.
Nevada’s winnings have climbed past the magical $1 billion mark 37 times in the past, ever since the first time in March 2005. The highest ever recorded was in October 2007, when Nevada casinos saw a monthly win of $1.165 billion.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, February 2018’s increase was driven by baccarat win on the Las Vegas Strip which was up a staggering 82.5% to $79.7 million.
“As expected, due to the shift in the calendar for Chinese New Year, this February was much stronger than last February due to Chinese New Year falling in January last year,” noted Michael Lawton of the Tax and License Division of the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
The Chinese New Year is a week-long holiday that began on February 16th and ushered in the Year of the Dog. Baccarat is a popular pastime among wealthy Asian gamblers, many of whom swarmed to Nevada to enjoy the festivities.
In other Nevada statistics, it was shown that visitation numbers declined year on year for the ninth consecutive month. There was a minute 0.6% decline of visitors to Southern Nevada in February 2018 compared to the same month in the previous year, with 3.13 million people paying a visit. On the other hand, convention traffic was up 11.2% year on year – to 690,000 conventioneers. Over 50,000 people attended the International Market Center , while the International Surface Event trade show attracted another 25,000 people.
