Things are getting worse…

…but I see a silver lining. In fact, you could argue that things are getting a whole lot better. It’s just a matter of perspective. Specifically, we’re talking about July’s Nevada gaming revenues being down. From the LV Sun:

For the seventh straight month, casino winnings on the Strip slumped, falling 14.6 percent in July from the year before.

It is “the worst run for Nevada gaming casinos since the early 1980s,” said Frank Streshley, senior research specialist for the state Gaming Control Board.

It was also the seventh month of decline for casinos statewide and the third straight month they reported gross win of below $1 billion.

Casino winnings fall for seventh straight month - Las Vegas Sun

I prefer to see the positive side: why not say that gamblers lost less money in Nevada this year? That’s good, isn’t it?

I thought the breakdown was interesting but ultimately inconclusive. Mesquite got hammered, which says to me that people from Utah and Northern Arizona don’t want to waste their gas on gambling trips. But you’ve also got some major erosion at baccarat on the Strip, while penny slots there actually gained. And so did $100 slots, a whimsical idea if ever there was one.

There isn’t a nice glib soundbite to wrap around these numbers, and I think they show that gambling habits are much more complex that most people think.