Gaming revenues plunge again in September
The State Gaming Control Board reports that gaming wins in the month of September fell 9% below what they were in September of last year, when the economy was trending downward already.
Gaming wins in Clark County were off 9.3%, down 3.6% on The Strip. Washoe County was down 6.4%, Reno down 8%, Sparks down 2.6%. North Lake Tahoe was flat. South Lake Tahoe fell nearly 11%. Around Carson City and Minden, gaming wins fell 4%.
Total gaming win for September fell below the billion dollar mark at $911 million, compared to just over a billion dollars in September of last year.
The continued slide in gaming revenues bodes badly for the state which is reeling from declining revenues from just about all quarters, including sales taxes. Governor Gibbons’ budget director Andrew Clinger said today that the Governor will wait until the end of November to decide whether to call a special session of the legislature to figure out how to make the state find a way to make ends meet. And new taxes are not on the table, according to Governor Gibbons. Making ends meet would require very substantial labor cuts either through state worker layoffs and/or more mandatory days off without pay. Since it is only the Governor that calls a special session and controls the agenda, any deviation offered up by legislators would likely be denied by the Governor. And if that happens it could trigger a constitutional challenge, if that’s the way it went.