E-mail Story
Print Friendly
Send E-mail
Reprint story
Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Gamblers Dropping Less Into Slots
By Charles D. Brunt
Copyright © 2010 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
It turns out gambling is not recession proof, and the state's budget is feeling the impact.
A substantial reduction in the amount of money New Mexico gamblers wagered on slot machines in 2009 resulted in a drop of nearly $9 million in state gaming revenues.
For the first time in at least seven years, gamblers spent less money on slot machines at Indian-owned casinos than they did in the preceding year, and slots players at the state's racinos took an even bigger hit, according to figures compiled by state regulators.
Slots activity at tribal casinos was down 1.7 percent in 2009 compared with 2008, and down 9 percent at the state's five racetrack/casinos.
Nonprofit and fraternal organizations that operate slot machines bucked the trend, showing a 4.2 percent increase in their "net win" figures, but the amount of activity at those organizations is much smaller. They also pay the state a much smaller percentage than racinos do.
"Net win" — the amount wagered on slot machines minus payouts and approved regulatory fees — is a key indicator of the state's overall gambling activity.
State coffers took in $127.25 million in revenues from net win payments last year — about $8.86 million less than in 2008 and a decline of about 6.5 percent. The money goes into the state's general fund.
Holly Thomsen, director of communications for the American Gaming Association, an industry group that tracks gaming activity at non-Indian casinos in 13 states and racinos in 12 states, including New Mexico, said the industry is still feeling the recession.
Although 2009 gross gaming revenues for racinos nationwide are not yet available, Thomsen said preliminary 2009 gross gaming revenues from the 12 states that allow commercial gaming are showing declines similar to New Mexico's.
"Taking all of the (commercial gaming) states together, the unaudited figures show us an overall decline of about 5.5 percent," Thomsen said Wednesday from the association's offices in Washington, D.C.
"The 9 percent decrease in New Mexico (racino net win) is on the higher end of that spectrum, but it's certainly in the range of what other states experienced," she said.
Though national first-quarter 2010 gambling revenues are showing some improvement, Thomsen is cautious about the coming year.
"It's going to be awhile until the industry recovers. While economists are saying the recession is over, the guy on Main Street doesn't feel like it's over," she said. "As long as unemployment and other factors that affect consumer spending are depressed, that's going to affect the gaming industry."
Although the 14 New Mexico tribes that have entered revenue-sharing compacts with the state report their gambling revenues quarterly to the New Mexico Gaming Control Board, they are not required to make those figures public. The Gaming Control Board does, however, report "net win" figures quarterly. Tribal net win does not include revenues from nonslot gaming, such as table games.
According to Gaming Control Board records, tribal casinos had a total net win of $697.9 million in 2009, down from $710.2 million in 2008. From 2002-08, tribal casinos had seen their net win grow by an average of 10.3 percent per year. That growth peaked at 18.6 percent in 2005.
Total net win at the state's racinos, which pay the state 26 percent of their net win, was $243.9 million in 2009, compared with $268.1 million the year before, according to figures made available earlier this month by the New Mexico Taxation & Revenue Department. That reversed a two-year trend of growth in racino slots activity.
Total racino net win had increased 9.2 percent from 2007-08, and 6.4 percent from 2006-07.
Unlike their larger rivals for slot machine revenues, licensed nonprofit veteran and fraternal organizations that operate slot machines saw an increase in gambling activity. Collectively, the nonprofits had a total net win of $11.9 million in 2009, compared with $11.4 million in 2008.
Licensed veteran and fraternal organizations pay the state 10 percent of their net win.
You also can send comments via our comment form
|
|
