Las Vegas Gaming Revenue Breakdown

[lsosa54]

From an interview with the CEO of IGT who makes gaming equipment. I'm not sure why I didn't intrinsically know this but I was surprised at the unimportance of racing, sports, and poker

% of Revenue Stats from 16 Vegas casinos earning $1 million + in 2011:

Slots 74.6%
Pit (including keno & bingo) 22.6%
Poker 1.4%
Sports Book 1.1%
Race book 0.3%

Profit margins would have to be highest on slots I would think. If I owned the casino, I'm not even sure why I'd keep the race book open, other than tradition.

[jdhanover]

the issue is do they make $ on the races?...my guess is that they still might because of the big days (B Cup, Ky Derby) etc - its about bodies into the building... guy plays the horses while wife plays the slots type of thing

[LottaKash]

the issue is do they make $ on the races?...my guess is that they still might because of the big days (B Cup, Ky Derby) etc - its about bodies into the building... guy plays the horses while wife plays the slots type of thing

That's it JDH, when I go to Vegas I generally do a little bit of both....The ponies and the bandits...I love the bandits....I play on the cheap, get a lot of "ass-time" and minimize my wins and losses when I play the slots...I fair ok long term....I keep little wins, never to be used again for that purpose.....I love Vegas...Going for a 5-nighter in Dec...( I used to play the hoss' at the Stardust, but that is gone now)

best,

[Charli125]

From an interview with the CEO of IGT who makes gaming equipment. I'm not sure why I didn't intrinsically know this but I was surprised at the unimportance of racing, sports, and poker

% of Revenue Stats from 16 Vegas casinos earning $1 million + in 2011:

Slots 74.6%
Pit (including keno & bingo) 22.6%
Poker 1.4%
Sports Book 1.1%
Race book 0.3%

Profit margins would have to be highest on slots I would think. If I owned the casino, I'm not even sure why I'd keep the race book open, other than tradition.

The funny thing is that the percent margin on slots is the lowest on that list. Since the revenue is so high though, it's the highest total margin. Kinda makes you think that we should probably have takeout closer to that of slots than where we are currently.

[mannyberrios]

Every time I have been to Vegas, the sports books were jamed packed! I know that I spent all my time at the sports, and race book! It was always packed! And the manager told me that they were doing good. I am suprised those numbers are so low

[vegasone]

Hold on horse racing is around 15-17%. The volume isn't there though.

Slots keep up to 15% but the main thing is the turnover of the cash. In the end they get you even on the ones they say have 99% return because the dollars are always being churned constantly.

Sports, poker and horses have always been a convenience thing more than a cash cow for the casinos.

[David-LV]

Do away with sports, poker and racing and watch the other numbers go down fairly quickly.

A successful full scale Casino & Resort needs everything working together for them to get the cash out of our pockets.

This is a proven recipe that has always worked well in Las Vegas.

_________
David-LV

[Run Nicholas Run]

just remember , a casino can have no race book, but sports only, not the other way around.

In all the years I worked in the book at one particular casino
I think the stupidest thing I heard was "if it wasnt for horse racing
there would be no books at all" and that was from a co-worker (who I
use the word "worker" very loosley), the guy was very jealous of me
because of my winning the Hilton contest a few years back and even though we were on the race side , the sports side always consulted with me on the
lines for the arena league or NFL props.

[Dave Schwartz]

Do away with sports, poker and racing and watch the other numbers go down fairly quickly.

Bingo!

Years ago it was determined that gamblers bet on lots of things. The most common of those things was horses, but I think that is changing as the game contracts.

One of my big complaints about racing is that their response to this is "we must do something to change that" but never consider anything that will actually benefit the customer. This is why racing is struggling.

[Striker]

Do away with sports, poker and racing and watch the other numbers go down fairly quickly.

_________
David-LV
Yep, I would never go to Vegas if they took the sports gambling away.

[PICSIX]

Hold on horse racing is around 15-17%. The volume isn't there though.

Slots keep up to 15% but the main thing is the turnover of the cash. In the end they get you even on the ones they say have 99% return because the dollars are always being churned constantly.

Sports, poker and horses have always been a convenience thing more than a cash cow for the casinos.

Yes, the churn is the key! I have 1st hand experience with machines that return 95% back to the player. Because of churn, we retain 28-32% of the gross sales.

Mike

[BlueShoe]

Do away with sports, poker and racing and watch the other numbers go down fairly quickly.

A successful full scale Casino & Resort needs everything working together for them to get the cash out of our pockets.

This is a proven recipe that has always worked well in Las Vegas.

_________
David-LV
Good summary that pretty well nails it. The hotel/casino goal is to get bodies in the building, and if the joint has no race/sports book or poker, a guest that wishes to participate in those activities will go elsewhere. While many of the smaller places may not have a race/sports book, they target a bit different type of customer. It has long been my experience and opinion that a well run Nevada racebook is a much more enjoyable place to play the horses than are the otb sites in SoCal that I have patronized, and at one time or another have been in most of them. Do not play the slots or VP on visits to Nevada, and rarely play the table games much anymore. Contrarian that I am, content to spend all day in the racebook and then get the next days Forms and pretty much ignore the other stuff. As has been commented on before, California still has a restricted simulcast schedule, while in Nevada a patron can wager on just about any track operating, with the exception of a few of the very small minor tracks.

[olddaddy]

Currently I dont see the attraction of Vegas race books. ADW's offer a lot more choices than Vegas books. Vegas doesnt offer European, Aussie or Asians tracks. About a year ago they finally offered Woodbine. The number of video feeds are very limited compared to ADW's. Vegas does either give or sell cheap forms but ADW's give them for free. Vegas also do not give all the betting options that ADW's do. I know for a fact they do not accept .20 pk3s or pk4s at Woodbine so I assume they dont take other wagers that ADW's do. The only advantage Vegas offers is cocktail service.

[bitter]

Currently I dont see the attraction of Vegas race books. ADW's offer a lot more choices than Vegas books. Vegas doesnt offer European, Aussie or Asians tracks. About a year ago they finally offered Woodbine. The number of video feeds are very limited compared to ADW's. Vegas does either give or sell cheap forms but ADW's give them for free. Vegas also do not give all the betting options that ADW's do. I know for a fact they do not accept .20 pk3s or pk4s at Woodbine so I assume they dont take other wagers that ADW's do. The only advantage Vegas offers is cocktail service.

when you're in the book, you can't happen but notice that there's a LOT more to gamble on then just the ponies. If you're invested in a day of racing and you want action in between races, a race book is a perfect place, and they offer a boat load more then an ADW does. Day going cold? walk 300 yards and play some blackjack. In between hands in poker? walk over and lay $20 on the chalks nose at delta.

[David-LV]

Currently I dont see the attraction of Vegas race books. ADW's offer a lot more choices than Vegas books. Vegas doesnt offer European, Aussie or Asians tracks. About a year ago they finally offered Woodbine. The number of video feeds are very limited compared to ADW's. Vegas does either give or sell cheap forms but ADW's give them for free. Vegas also do not give all the betting options that ADW's do. I know for a fact they do not accept .20 pk3s or pk4s at Woodbine so I assume they dont take other wagers that ADW's do. The only advantage Vegas offers is cocktail service.

I know for a fact the race books in Las Vegas DO accept .20 pk3s and pk4s bets at Woodbine.

I play them every day that Woodbine runs and also get all the free Daily Racing Forms,free harness programs,and free Racing Digest's that I can use.

You can also bet house quinella's along with the same menu of pari mutual bets that are offered at the racetracks.

Last Saturday Las Vegas brought in 35 different racing signals plus you can legally bet on any sporting event there is.

Free cocktails, free food, free shows, free rooms are offered depending on your play.

Also I'll take playing in billion dollar casinos with giant million dollar LCD screens and 20 inch tv's at each seat then most cheesy ADW's outside of Las Vegas.

And last but not least there is always free admission, free parking and free valet parking at all locations in Las Vegas.
_________
David-LV

[olddaddy]

I know for a fact the race books in Las Vegas DO accept .20 pk3s and pk4s bets at Woodbine.

I play them every day that Woodbine runs and also get all the free Daily Racing Forms,free harness programs,and free Racing Digest's that I can use.

You can also bet house quinella's along with the same menu of pari mutual bets that are offered at the racetracks.

Last Saturday Las Vegas brought in 35 different racing signals plus you can legally bet on any sporting event there is.

Free cocktails, free food, free shows, free rooms are offered depending on your play.

Also I'll take playing in billion dollar casinos with giant million dollar LCD screens and 20 inch tv's at each seat then most cheesy ADW's outside of Las Vegas.

And last but not least there is always free admission, free parking and free valet parking at all locations in Las Vegas.
_________
David-LV

Maybe I was at the wrong race book, Gold Coast, or the guy taking bets was lazy but told me they dont take those Woodbine bets. Also they didnt have anywhere near 35 signals on the seating monitors. Finally, The space taken up by the race book should be used more efficiently, that can be done by offering out of country racing which would expand the time the race book is open.

Also how do the perks you get from Vegas compare to the ADW's rewards? I am not a heavy player so I dont know this stuff.

[badcompany]

If you go down the list, you'll see horse racing revenue has continuously declined and is about 1/2 of what it was just five years ago.

You have to wonder if the casinos will still be taking bets on horses five years from now.

http://gaming.nv.gov/gaming_revenue_rpt.htm

[jdhanover]

A little misleading since overall revenue is down significantly as well. Racing's % of the total has dropped but I dont think it is going away soon.

[badcompany]

A little misleading since overall revenue is down significantly as well. Racing's % of the total has dropped but I dont think it is going away soon.

March was a very bad month for the casinos. I'm not sure why.

However, for the most recent 3 month and 1 year periods, total gaming revenue was up, while, at the same time racebook revenue was down.

http://gaming.nv.gov/documents/pdf/1g_12mar.pdf

I'm looking strictly at the numbers. Maybe, someone with more intimate knowledge can provide deeper insights.