Despite land-based casinos being allowed to return to 100% operational capacity, the latest data shows that Nevada gambling revenue dropped 3.3% in June compared to the month before.
Following the approval to open up to complete capacity on June 1, Nevada casinos were also allowed to ease social distancing rules.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board announced that Clark County, home to Las Vegas, accounted for $1.02 billion of the total gambling revenue in June, with casinos on the Las Vegas Strip raking in $610.6 million.
The most significant earners for the Nevada casino industry were slot machines that brought in $868.1 million. Table and card games were responsible for $325.3 million in profits. However, compared to the income they generated in May ($389.2 million), they were 16.4% less profitable.
Sports betting saw a month-on-month increase of 7.8%, totalling $29.2 million. An interesting fact was that mobile devices accounted for $14.7 million of total sports betting revenue. With the NBA playoffs underway, it comes as no surprise that basketball was the most popular sport. It earned $19.8 million, which is an increase of 73.7% from May.
The Gaming Control Board confirmed that June was the fourth month in a row that Nevada casinos collected more than $1 billion in revenue.
The last time that happened was in 2008, between January and April.
“The recent surge in statewide gaming win is the result of several contributing factors which include strong demand, the return of leisure travel, customers with savings that can be attributed to stimulus and the return of core customers including customers 55 and over,” said Michael Lawton, the board’s senior research analyst.
The easing of social distancing measures has revived the interest in brick-and-mortar gambling venues. However, it is still too early to tell whether that will have any impact on all those new online casinos that flourished during the pandemic.
