Strip slot revenue was $113 million, reflecting a 48% decrease in coin-in and low hold—the lowest since December 2015. Table game revenue plummeted 63% to $118 million, only -57% when baccarat is excluded (it suffered a -70% wipeout on anemic hold). Locals revenue was $136 million, reflecting 28% less slot win. Downtown was down 55.5% to $23 million, North Las Vegas -23% to $17.5 million, the Boulder Strip -32.5% to $45 million, miscellaneous Clark County -26% to $73.5 million, while Laughlin suffered little, off 14.5% to $34 million. Lake Tahoe‘s $13 million represented a 20.5% falloff but Reno was down only 8.5%, grossing $46.5 million. Elko was even more resilient, yielding just 3% for a $24.5 million gross. Utah residents must be famished for gambling: Mesquite was up 3%, grossing $10 million. And plucky little Wendover, economic barometer of Nevada, was only down 2%, grossing over $16.5 million.
Don’t look to far out of state for help: Air traffic at McCarran International Airport fell 76.5%, for a comparatively mingy 1 million arrivals and departures (McCarran tried to spin this as a plus). Year to date, air traffic in and out of Las Vegas is down 54%. There were 70—count ’em—70 international passengers (via WestJet), which is 100% more than we’ve seen in recent months. Passenger volume heavily favored Southwest Airlines, despite a 63.5% falloff. Losing the least amount of market share was Allegiant, down 56% but notching the second-highest number of travelers. When you do start flying again, expect to pay more for leisure travel, business traffic being so far off, the Wall Street Journal predicts. “If the cost of travel increases for the average traveler, there will be less demand. Smaller airlines, fewer hotels, less choice. Vaya con dios, Vegas.
David, I am not good with accounting, so if you could clarify, please. The strip had $113mm intake, and low hold. Does that mean that the average person playing slots and VP were able to keep more of what they put into the machines at a higher winning percentage, or does that $113mm indicate what the house actually won, and not what was put into the machines. Basically, was the house hold percentage less now than it was a year ago? Could they have lowered the house hold to get more players? I doub’t that, specially for Caesars properties.
Lucky, the coin-in would have been much higher than $113 million, which is what the slots won. And the hold was lower, the lowest since December 2015. Low hold = more players? I wouldn’t rule it out. Does that help?
Yes it does, thanks. I would be amazed to hear that Caesars, in the control of their new masters, has set the machines to a lower house hold. But stranger things have happened. Thanks.
Most likely, hold was low because when casinos removed slots due to social distancing, they removed the revenue-sharing and leased games, which generally have above-average holds. A very basic example: your casino has 100 games each, at holds of 7%, 9% and 11% — for a 9% average. However the 11% games each carry $50/day in lease costs. Now you must remove 60 games due to social distancing, most casinos will try to reduce those lease fees, leaving 100 @ 7% and 9% and 40 @ 11% (and saving 60 x $50 = $3000 in lease fee per day). Your casino’s avg hold has now dropped by half a percent to 8.5%. (again, this is a very simplified scenario, there are other factors as well)