Nevada set another record in gross gambling win in 2006: $12.6 billion, up 8.3% compared with the $11.6 billion won by casinos in 2005.
During 2006, nine of the 12 months reported a gaming win of more than $1 billion statewide, including an all-time one-month record of $1.141 billion in January.
The total handle (amount wagered) statewide in 2006 was $170 billion. Of the total, $138 billion was bet on slot machines, up 3.8% from 2005, and $32 billion was bet on table games and in race and sports books (up 9.8%). The slot win of $8.3 billion amounts to a 6% hold, while the tables and books win of $4.3 billion equals a 13.4% hold.
Nevada gamblers risked $11.2 billion at the blackjack tables in 2006, a 6.1% increase in the 2005 handle. Of that, the casinos won $1.38 billion, a big jump of 11.1% over 2005. The 2006 casino hold on blackjack amounted to 12.3%. It was the biggest handle and hold of any table game.
Baccarat had a big 2006, with $7.6 billion wagered, a year-to-year increase of 28.3%. The casinos won $835.8 million (up 25.6%), for a hold of 11%.
The whole of Clark County won $10.6 billion in 2006, a 9.5% increase over 2005. The County accounted for 84.3% of the statewide gambling revenues; compare that to 74.8% in 1990.
On the Las Vegas Strip, the win was $6.68 billion in 2006, up 10.9% from 2005. That's 53% of the state's total win. (In 1990, the Strip accounted for 47.3%.) Downtown won $634.4 million, down 3.6%. The Boulder Strip won $929.7 million, up 4.6%.
