By Bill O’Driscoll, Reno Gazette-Journal

Washoe County gaming revenues fell for a seventh straight month in May, the state reported Monday, as the region continues to struggle with recession and competition for gamblers’ dollars.

“Some day we’ll get to the bottom of this, and it will stabilize at some point and we’ll see minor growth,” said Ken Adams, a Reno gaming analyst. “The question is, when will that be?”

Washoe’s gaming revenues have fallen since last November, most recently a 6.6 percent drop in May compared with May 2010, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board report.

Casinos in Reno carried the brunt of the downturn with revenues declining 7.7 percent. The report showed revenue rose slightly in Sparks by 2.1 percent and among north Lake Tahoe casinos by 2.8 percent, but those increases compared against double-digit declines in May 2010.

“It’s the economy and it’s competition,” Adams said, citing tribal casinos in California’s Sierra foothills that continue to siphon off motorists from Bay Area markets that are key to the Reno-Sparks gaming community.

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