Analysts: Nevada casinos will do better in 2012
By Steve Green, Las Vegas Sun
Analysts at accounting firm PwC have boosted their growth projection for Nevada’s casino industry.
In the PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP) annual gaming forecast distributed this week, the firm projected Nevada gaming win of $10.4 billion in 2010 to reach $10.7 billion this year and then expand to just shy of $13 billion by 2015.
Predictions are for more traffic to Nevada casinos in 2012. Photo/LTN file
The 2015 projection would about equal the level reached in 2007 — the high-water mark for Nevada casinos before the recession.
That figure represents an annual growth rate of 4.9 percent. By comparison, PwC a year ago projected an annual growth of 4.1 percent over five years.
“The momentum generated in 2010 (a 0.1 percent increase) is carrying over in 2011 and we project that the market will increase by 2.8 percent for 2011 as a whole,” PwC said in its report.
The PwC forecast for Nevada gaming revenue in the next few years is aggressive, with its analysts expecting growth of 4.1 percent in 2012 and 4.6 percent in 2013. Projections for gaming taxes in the state budget, in comparison, are for growth of 2.5 percent in fiscal year 2012 and 2.7 percent in fiscal year 2013.
Despite the higher projected growth rate in Nevada casino revenue, PwC expects Nevada’s share of the $57.5 billion U.S. gaming market to decline slightly through 2015 because of competition from Asia and as regional casinos pop up in populous U.S. markets such as Massachusetts and potentially Florida.