The casinos of Nevada have posted up historic numbers for 2021 surpassing all records. December closed out with over a billion dollars in wins for casinos marking the tenth month in a row with revenues over $1 billion.
While the previous year was a hard one for casino operators everywhere, the last year’s numbers showed 2021 was an even better money maker than the last year before the pandemic by several metrics.
Slots in 2021 generated wins of more than 70 percent more than 2020 and table games were in the same ballpark – more than 70% but less than 71%. Tables barely outpaced slot wins at 70.7% increase year on year compared to slots’ jump of 70.5% over the previous year.
Slots made up the lion’s share of overall increased revenue but roulette logged its best year ever for Nevada bringing down $428 million. That take came from a total of 424 tables meaning that on average each wheel generated a million dollars in wins.
Blackjack Still Most Popular Table Game
Blackjack remained the state’s most popular table game with almost 2,000 tables open during the past year. Players left over a billion dollars on those tables with a casino take of a little over 14% of each bet placed on average. Roulette tables experienced a hold of nearly 20%.
Sports betting beat out roulette and set its own record with a book win of $445.1 million, about a third of the amount roulette took in for the calendar year.
Analysts or others with interest in the finer details and nuances of the record-setting year can find the Nevada Gaming Commission’s 180-page 2021 Gaming Abstract for the fiscal year ended June 30 here.
This year 1H numbers on the fiscal year closed out on Wednesday with the state collecting over $570m a marked increase of more than 30% compared to the same period during the fiscal year 2020-2021.
The current numbers have been compiled from reports by over 400 operations. So-called “penny slots” were, of course, the reigning king even though players left a lot less of their money by percentage in the machines. With nearly 50,000 penny slots players only left an average of 9.85% of their wagers in the machines. With all that churn, however, casinos were able to subtract over $3.75 billion from players last year – and increase over 2020 revenues by almost 60%.
Footfall Surged After Restrictions Lifted
According to a report on Forbes, Michael Lawton, a senior research analyst said that 11 out of 18 gambling markets in the state set revenue records for the year2021.
Lawson said: “The reasons for the record level of gaming win recorded this calendar year began with the successful rollout of vaccines, which eliminated capacity restrictions on the gaming floor.
“This demand was being driven by healthy consumer savings as the result of stimulus payments and the sustained rebound of leisure travel,” said the analyst. “Additionally, the return of special events and entertainment continued to boost gaming win to record levels.”
Source: Nevada’s casinos once again have strong showing in monthly revenue report, South Tahoe Now, February 1, 2022