National gaming revenues decline

The AGA’s 2010 State of the States is out, and to no one’s surprise 2010 was another off year for gambling. From the LVRJ:

According to figures released this morning by the Washington D.C.-based American Gaming Association, commercial casinos in 13 states collected $30.74 billion from gamblers, compared to $32.54 billion collected in 2008.

via Gaming revenues decline for second year – Business – ReviewJournal.com.

From page 8 of the report, here are how the top five markets did:

1. Las Vegas Strip, Nev. $5.550 billion
2. Atlantic City, N.J. $3.943 billion
3. Chicagoland, Ill./Ind. $2.092 billion
4. Connecticut $1.448 billion
5. Detroit, Mich. $1.339 billion

Atlantic City’s hanging in there, isn’t it?

Here’s a useless, but quite interesting nonetheless, fact: Americans spent a little more at commercial casinos ($30.74 billion) than they did on candy ($29.3 billion). I don’t know how candy that’s bought at a casino is tabulated.

I might pull some of the data from the reports into a single chart that makes it easier to see the trend, but that’s third on my list of table-making. First, I’m working on the March numbers. So we have some context for the March 2010 numbers, I’m looking at the numbers for each March back to 2004. It’s an interesting demonstration of volatility, for one, because the baccarat hold percentage has ranged from 7.15% to 14.32% (March 2004 through March 2009).

The second is an idea that grows out of volatility and table game hold. Since theoretically there shouldn’t be any trend, as there is in slot hold, I’m going to get the average for annual table game holds for an extended period, as well as the extremes on each side. Depending on how far back I go, I might do this monthly or annually.

Back to the March numbers: looking at last month, I predict a big increase in baccarat win. I would be surprised if I saw a major increase in anything else, but I hope I’m surprised.

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