Vol. 3, No. 18
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July 15, 2006
Nevada's Online State News Journal
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April Taxable Sales Up A Bit; Gaming Win Also Up
A Slight Cooling Off Seems Apparent In Taxable Sales, Not In Gaming
It's still a growth in taxable sales, the growth just isn't the explosive growth we've become used to according to a report issued by the State Taxation Department. April 2006 taxable sales increased by 4.3 percent compared to April 2005. Businesses in the state did $3.9 billion worth of taxable business in April. For the 2005-2006 fiscal year taxable sales were up 10.2 percent. The fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.
All was not rosy around the Silver State however as eight rural counties did not show increases in their sales reports. In Clark County, taxable sales rose 4.9 percent in April, but in Washoe County, the figure was a disappointing increase of only 0.8 percent.
Taxes on booze and butts (Liquor and Cigarettes) were up a strong 20 percent in April compared to a year earlier.
Nevada's gaming industry however had a very good May compared to a year ago with the casino take again over the billion-dollar mark. May 2005 was a good month and many figured the $1.03 billion would be difficult to beat because of very high gas prices. May 2006 came in at $1.127 billion, up 9.04 percent from last year. Clark County gaming establishments led the way winning from our valued tourists $962.6 million, up 10.68 percent from May 2005. Gaming win figures are money taken in from gaming but before taxes or other expenses.
In Washoe County, casinos won $91.19 million, up 3.12 percent over the previous May. Reno casinos were up 3.36 percent while those in Sparks won 5.36 more than in May 2005. It was South Lake Tahoe that took the hit this year. Casinos at South Lake were down by 7.62 percent.
In the south, the Las Vegas Strip gaming establishments were up by more than 11 percent while casinos in downtown Las Vegas were up marginally, 0.42 percent. According to the report issued by the State Gaming Control Board, betting statewide totaled very close to $15 billion in May 2006 with most of the betting on slot machines. Gamblers put their money in the slots to the tune of $11.9 billion, and on the tables $2.8 billion.
Oil prices continue to climb because of the unstable conditions in the oil producing regions of the world, and because of that gold prices are also climbing and the national and world stock markets are taking a beating. None of this seems to be having and influence on visitors to Nevada. Many in the tourist industry have been expecting drops in numbers of visitors and drops in gaming numbers. That doesn't seem to be happening.
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