GGRAsia – Vegas Strip has good April, aided by baccarat

Vegas Strip has good April, aided by baccarat

Jun 01, 2015 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

Baccarat win on the Las Vegas Strip (pictured) rose 5 percent year-on-year in April to US$95.2 million, while win from mini-baccarat rose 31.6 percent to nearly US$4.9 million.

Baccarat volume – another measure of performance – rose by a double digit percentage state wide, said analysts commenting on the April data released on Friday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The table game is the gambling pursuit of choice for many Asian customers visiting Las Vegas.

Casinos state wide won US$897.9 million from all gamblers during April, a nearly 5.4 percent increase compared to the same month in 2014.

‘Win’ is defined by the Center for Gaming Research of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, as “percentage of total money gambled (handle) that casinos kept; also known as hold percentage”.

On the Las Vegas Strip during April, total gaming revenue increased almost 7.8 percent to US$498.8 million.

Joseph Greff, managing director of JP Morgan Securities LLC said in a note on Nevada’s April results: “The market will (and) should continue to experience volatility in baccarat play given a likely slowdown in Chinese players.”

He added: “That said, April baccarat numbers were encouraging.”

A report in late May from Morgan Stanley Research Ltd and market research outfit AlphaWise suggested that Las Vegas is more dependent on regular and current Macau gamblers than investors and the market had understood.

“Baccarat volume increased a solid 14.0 percent, marking the second consecutive month of double-digit increases after six months of declines through February,” said a report from Christopher Jones and John DeCree of Union Gaming Research LLC, referring to Nevada’s April numbers.

“Notably, the 14 percent increase in volume comes after nearly 20 percent growth in the same month last year,” the Union Gaming analysts added.

Carlo Santarelli of Deutsche Bank AG noted that the overall Las Vegas Strip table revenue of US$231.6 million – excluding poker – was up 4.4 percent year-on-year, as volume was up 4.4 percent and hold was flat.