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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (257521)	7/11/2008 7:09:11 PM
From: miraje	Respond to of 793908

Vegas has got to be feeling it. Las Vegas is in deep doo doo.. lvrj.com BUDGET BREAKER: Gaming tax collections sink Worst percentage drop in at least 10 years By ED VOGEL and HOWARD STUTZ REVIEW-JOURNAL CARSON CITY -- At a time when Gov. Jim Gibbons, legislators and everyone else in Nevada would have welcomed good news about the state economy, they got an even more depressing report. The Gaming Control Board reported Thursday that gaming tax collections in June plunged 22.8 percent from June 2007, the worst drop in at least 10 years. The $64 million in taxes were collected on the revenue casinos won from players in May. Winnings for May were just under $970 million, a 15.2 percent drop from $1.143 billion a year earlier, which pummeled the stock prices of the industry's largest casino operators. That was the largest decline since 1984, when the control board began monthly tracking of gaming revenue. A couple of hours after the report was released, Gibbons said the statistics mean the state budget may have to be cut even more. "This is an incredibly difficult time for the state of Nevada, and it appears that we may need to prepare for an additional shortfall to our general fund for the fiscal year that just began," Gibbons said in a statement. He already has asked state agencies to determine whether they can make an additional 14 percent in cuts and to prepare for zero growth budgets over the next two-year period. On the Strip, gaming revenues were $513.4 million in May, a drop of 16.4 percent, compared with $614.5 million in May 2007. Statewide gaming revenues are down 6.2 percent through May, while Strip gaming revenues are down 5.4 percent for the first five months of 2008... the rest of the article at the link above