The Nevada Gaming Control Board releases casino revenue reports monthly and is one of the most widely cited sources in gambling coverage. These include the amount casinos won, hold percentages, machine and casino accounts, and some details by region and game.
These reports are often misinterpreted by journalists and influencers. Here are some of the mistakes they make. This article is for educational purposes and is not to shame those who make these mistakes.
Table games are usually reported inaccurately by the press
Nevada reports table game revenue in a way that confuses most people reporting on it. The win amount is shown along with the percentage change from the same period last year. Another column shows the percentage held by casinos, on average, for each major game and collectively.
Reporters do the math and determine players wagered based on these numbers. However, they often confuse what the numbers mean, as table game hold is based on buy-ins (drop) and chips that left the table (cashouts), not total wagers.
For example, in February 2026, downtown Las Vegas casinos won $4,528,000 at live blackjack tables. That hold percentage was 12.84%. That implies a calculated figure of $35,265,000. This is where the most common reporting mistake occurs.
Many stories about Nevada gaming revenue would say something like, “Downtown players wagered $35,265,000 on blackjack in February 2026.” That is inaccurate.
Table games are calculated differently from other casino games
Table game wagers cannot be tracked like bets on slot machines, bingo, keno, or sportsbooks. No system tracks table games that closely. It would be cost-prohibitive and still not entirely accurate. The amount won is a percentage of the drop, meaning the amount of chips gamblers bought. The number has nothing to do with the amount wagered. This is one of the most common errors in media coverage of Nevada gaming revenue.
This leads to a related mistake. The same article above might say that gamblers lost 12.84% of all blackjack wagers. That is not just inaccurate, it is impossible over any large sample size. The worst Las Vegas blackjack game theoretically holds 8.95% with perfect play. Most downtown games hold less than 1%. Players would have to make endless strategy errors to lose 12.84% of their wager amount.
The correct terminology is that players lost 12.84% of what they bought into games. Another way of saying it is the churn held 12.84%, as the same buy-ins were wagered repeatedly before players cashed out or went broke.
Reporting that blackjack holds 12.84% is also problematic for people thinking about a Las Vegas trip. Many players already know the rules are not what they used to be. When they hear blackjack holds nearly 13%, that may discourage them from visiting, as that is about 20 times what a decent blackjack game holds.
Table game holds cannot be compared to other types
Some large social media accounts make posts comparing holds across different games to show which are the worst to play. Here is an example of a prominent sports media X/Twitter account getting it wrong. The tweet has 282,000 views.
Sports parlay cards and keno reporting show the exact amount wagered, meaning the hold is directly tied to the wager amount. Three Card Poker, pai gow tiles, and pai gow poker are a percentage of the drop. These types of games cannot be compared for this purpose. Dozens of these tweets exist with millions of views. YouTube is full of videos that cumulatively have millions of views getting this wrong.
Geographical locations are imprecise
Another reporting issue is that the reporting regions are not precise. For example, Aztec Inn, the Strat, and Wildfire Fremont all report under downtown Las Vegas. The Boulder Strip includes everything down to Railroad Pass and over to The M. The Las Vegas Strip includes many locals casinos, like Palms and Silver Sevens. This can cause different market segments to be mixed together for comparison purposes.
Slot reporting includes multiple game types
Slot reporting is more than just video and reel games. Video poker, video keno, and electronic table games are also included. When a denomination shows a 9% hold, the slot average is much worse than that, because video poker typically holds 2-6% when accounting for strategy errors. Keno paytables usually return more than a standard slot machine. Nearly all electronic table games have a smaller house advantage than slots.
This means a reported 9% hold for a denomination does not represent traditional slot machines alone, and comparisons across denominations can be misleading. Denomination-level data is becoming less useful for analyzing player behavior or game performance.
Slot denominations are becoming less meaningful
Each gaming report shows a list of denominations. The last line says multi-denominational. This means more than one denomination is on a machine and the player chooses their preferred option. The reporting does not break down which denomination the action came from, and paytables can change between the levels.
Another issue is that electronic table games are usually under penny slots. That is because of the pennies needed to pay bets on things like craps Place and Buy bets. Video blackjack is usually not $1 because change is needed to pay blackjack. Roulette varies based on a number of factors, including the size of the smallest chip.
Nevada Gaming Revenue Reports tell the big picture, not the small one
Nevada Gaming’s monthly revenue numbers are still helpful. The same areas are compared each time, showing segment strengths and weaknesses. However, the details only tell part of the story. Without that context, even widely cited Nevada gaming data can be easily misunderstood or misreported.
