December was a historically bad month for Nevada casinos, finishing off a historically bad year, according to a Thursday state regulatory report on gambling activity and state revenues.
The state's Gaming Control Board blamed the global pandemic for the results that show casino house winnings that totaled $7.8 billion for 2020, reported the Las Vegas Sun. This is down 34.6 percent from 2019, and is also the lowest for a calendar year since 1997.
The report stated, "The reason for the decrease to this calendar year was the result of the suspension of gaming operations from March 18 through June 4 due to COVID-19. This 78-day closure had a significant impact on gaming win amounts."
December's monthly casino winnings were $683.7 million, which was down about 35.4 percent from December of 2019.
Senior analyst Michael Lawton said, "December, although very weak in terms of gaming win, unfortunately was not a huge surprise."
Based on the December numbers, the state collected a little over $30 million in percentage fees, which was down about 40.4 percent from 2019. A year ago, the figure reached $50.4 million.
Lawton explained that December's low business was hurt by the absence of events, including the annual National Finals Rodeo and the New Year's Eve fireworks on the Las Vegas Strip, as well as the casino capacity limits.
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