By Bill O’Driscoll, Reno Gazette-Journal

Gaming revenues tumbled yet again across Washoe County in February as the tourism industry recession showed no signs of easing its winter-long grip, the state reported today.

Casinos across the Reno-Sparks-north Tahoe region saw an 8.5 percent decline in gross revenues from the same month a year earlier, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s report.

It marked the fourth straight month of year-over-year declines for Washoe County.

Within the county, properties in Reno reported a 7.5 percent drop and in Sparks, revenues fell 10.2 percent. On the north shore of Lake Tahoe, casinos reported a 15.5 percent decline.

Statewide, gaming revenues fell 6.8 percent, pulled down largely on a 9.5 percent decline on the Las Vegas Strip, which alone generates more than half the entire state total.

Elsewhere in Northern Nevada, revenues in the Carson City-Carson Valley corridor fell 2.9 percent from February 2010, and at Stateline on Tahoe’s south shore, casinos reported a 2.5 percent drop.