While some analysts were expecting the Las Vegas Strip to be only slightly off last year’s pace (another benchmark that seems unlikely to be repeated, shades of 2007), their guidance evidently 
didn’t foresee an almost 6% miss, coming at $533 million. You could blame it on baccarat — a disastrous 18% down — but that wouldn’t be fair. Table games ($156 million) slid 10.5%. At least a 5% slippage in coin-in didn’t hurt slot winnings, up 3% to $277.5 million. Since there was some Saturday revenue from June mixed in with the other numbers, July was even worse than it looks.
Most other jurisdictions didn’t get the memo, as Nevada was flat year/year. Downtown ($49 million) was up 8% and North Las Vegas ($27 million) vaulted 15%. The Boulder Strip (18.5% up) brought in $79 million while miscellaneous Clark County edged up 2% to $100 million. Laughlin was almost 2% higher, grossing $41.5 million, while Lake Tahoe exploded, rocketing 25.5% upward to $30 million. Reno, however, missed the parade, down 1.5% to $56.5 million.
* In a first for Nevada, the world’s premier cannabis-infused beer has been announced: Las Vegas ReLeaf is tapping Two Roots, a non-alcoholic beer augmented with loco weed. It will give new meaning to the term ‘happy hour.’ I hope that there are plenty of snacks on hand at the media launch, this Friday.
