Las Vegas Strip Revenue Falls 5.1% In October

With revenue in the world's largest gaming destination, Macau, China, continuing to decline, casino investors have been looking to the state of Nevada for some much-needed good news this year.

The state's Gaming Control Board recently released its report on gaming revenue for the month of October. Here's a summary of the report.

The Numbers

Nevada's non-restricted gaming licensees reported a total "gaming win" of $887,577,506 in October, a 2.8 percent year-over-year increase.

The fiscal year is off to a slow start for the state of Nevada. Total win from July 1, 2015, through the end of October is down 0.9 percent from last year.

Las Vegas Strip

More than $493 million (about 56 percent) of Nevada's total gaming win in October  came from the Las Vegas Strip.

Shareholders of strip mega-resort operators Wynn Resorts, Limited WYNN, Las Vegas Sands Corp. LVS, MGM Resorts International MGM and Caesars Entertainment Corp CZR are watching Strip numbers closely.

Win numbers for the Vegas Strip were down 5.1 percent year-over-year, a sharp downturn compared to September's 2 percent increase. The current fiscal year total for the Strip is now 2.5 percent below last fiscal year's running total.

Downtown Vegas

Even historic Downtown Las Vegas, which has performed relatively well in recent months, took a big hit in October. Fiscal year numbers for Downtown Vegas remain 5.2 percent ahead of last year's numbers, but the October total gaming win for downtown was only $44,642,799 – a 6.5 percent decrease from last October's total.

Shares of Boyd Gaming Corporation BYD, which operates three downtown casinos, are up 55 percent in 2015.

Disclosure: The author owns shares of Wynn Resorts.