Las Vegas Taking Economic Hit Too
Todd | October 15, 2008
The current economic situation in the United States isn’t only affecting auto makers and insurance companies. The Nevada Gaming and Control Board has announced that gaming revenues are down for the eighth straight month. With soaring fuel prices, cash-strapped consumers find it too expensive to go to Las Vegas, let alone gamble money away once they arrive. Gambling and leisure activities are among the first things people budget away when finances get tight.
This decline in revenues is the largest recorded since the control board began keeping records in 1984. The first eight months of 2008 show a six-point-eight percent drop in revenues. The Strip, Las Vegas’ famous line of high-rise casinos and lavish attractions, has seen a six-point-six percent decline in revenues. The reduction in gaming revenues has led to a reduction in tax revenue for the state. So far this year, there has been a six percent drop in tax revenues for the state.
In other areas of the state, gaming revenues were down by as much as seventeen-point-eight percent and twenty-two-point-four percent. These difficult times in the American economy are clearly influencing Americans’ willingness to gamble away their money.
The news from Las Vegas contrasts sharply with the success foreign-based online casinos have seen lately. A rise in participating players has brought record numbers to several online casino properties. However, proprietors in Las Vegas might soon get a break as fuel prices return to normal levels and long-distance travel becomes more feasible again.
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