Baccarat Gambling Declining in Las Vegas Compared to Macau

Nevada Gaming Control BoardBaccarat, the high stakes cards gambling game is more popular now in Macau than in the Las Vegas strip of United States. VIP junkets who bring in high stakes players generally indulge in baccarat, which now represents two thirds of Macau’s gaming revenue. In a recent declaration by Nevada Gaming Control Board, the overall casino revenue of Las Vegas, which fell by 16 percent to $555 million during December 2014, has largely been due to reduction in the number of baccarat players. The decline has pulled down the overall revenues of Vegas as baccarat winnings have fallen by 40 percent to $148 million though there were 325 baccarat tables on the strip during 2014.

Largest casino table contributors

Since early days of gambling almost half of Vegas’s table revenues were contributed by Baccarat and from 2007 it was the only game which helped growth of casino revenues. Overall baccarat contributes for 45 percent of table revenues. Most of the large names like MGM, Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts benefit from table games among which baccarat is the most popular. During November 2014 the decline from baccarat was at a high of 35 percent, which followed a dismal October.

Silver lining in the cloud

In the midst of this decline Vegas prospered on the strength of its slot machines. They contributed to $3.5 billion in revenue during 2014 depicting an increase of 6 percent during first few months though baccarat revenues declined. Revenues from baccarat were at $97.3 million as amounts wagered on it fell by 15 percent. Reports states that baccarat generally contributes to $100 million and more on annual basis and without it gaming revenues have declined by 12 percent in September across the Vegas Strip. Stretch of downtown Las Vegas managed to report strong profits due to Hawaiian tourism theme and new amenities and innovations carried out by hotels in the area.