Gaming grosses were up 5% on the Las Vegas Strip last month and locals casinos did spectacularly well, seeing a 14% increase. The statistics are even more impressive when you take into account one less weekend day than 
in 2017 and a 17.5% slide in baccarat win on 9% less wagering. Also, April ended on a Sunday, meaning that the last weekend’s slot revenue hasn’t yet been tallied but will be rolled into May’s results. This month will be more difficult, as last May saw 3% Strip growth and a 12% jump in baccarat win. (Of course, it’s only “win” if you’re the casino; for everybody else it’s called getting your clock cleaned.) Strip slot win was $274 million, up 5.5% on 1.5% more coin-in. Non-baccarat table games were a bonanza, up 18% on 11.5% higher wagering. So, as you see, the house was very lucky in April.
Downtown vaulted 15.5% to $60.5 million and North Las Vegas shot up 15% to $27 million. The Boulder Strip was good for $78.5 million, a 23% blitzkrieg, while outlying Clark County (including Primm and Mesquite) delivered $101 million for an 8% increase. Laughlin rose 9% for a $46.5 million haul and Reno did even better ($47.5 million) despite being flat with last year. Lake Tahoe rose 12.5% to $15 million, while Elko clocked in with $25.5 million, a 2% increase.
* Bally Gaming and Glory Global Solutions got off easy in New Mexico, where they were under regulatory scrutiny for having done business with a non-compacted tribe, the Pojoaque Pueblo. They could have had their licenses to do business with non-tribal casinos stripped. Instead both 
were fined undisclosed amounts of money and basically sent to bed with no supper, despite being publicly unrepentant.
In addition to not losing their existing licenses, Bally and Glory got the New Mexico Gaming Control Board to agree to process their pending licenses. That sounds like a pretty sweet deal from here. As for the Pojoaque, they conceded last fall in their dispute with Gov. Susana Martinez (R) and compacted with the state in return for revenue sharing. Instead of a renegade tribe they are now solid corporate citizens and got off unscathed in the Bally/Glory investigation. Thus ends (?) one of the uglier chapters in tribal/state relations of recent years.
