Nevada's gaming income drops again in March, with the Strip leading the way down.

 A 5% drop in revenue on the Las Vegas Strip was part of a statewide drop in March, according to figures released Tuesday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

 The state made $1.27 billion in gross gaming income in March, which is 1.1% less than the same month last year.  Nevada's casino revenue is down 1.14% so far this fiscal year compared to the same time last year, which set a new low for the state.

 For the month, the Las Vegas Strip made $681.7 million in gross gaming revenue, which is 5% less than the same time last year.  Besides January, the Strip has seen year-over-year drops in seven of the last eight months.  As the year comes to a close, gaming income in the United States' gaming capital is down 3.35 percent.

 Even though the Strip was down, Clark County as a whole was only down 1.75 percent. This was because downtown Las Vegas ($85 million, up 11.5%) and the Boulder Strip ($86.3 million, up 10.2%) both had good months.  The locals market in Las Vegas had a bad month ($162.8 million, or -2.5%), but it is still up 6% year-to-date with over $1.4 billion in GGR.

 These other areas have done well for the southern half of the state while the Strip has had trouble matching its record-setting years.  Downtown, the locals market, and Mesquite are all having better economic years than any of Nevada's northern areas.

 Baccarat scores are still not good enough.
 It was partly baccarat that caused the Strip's drop in March, and the game's success is usually in line with the market as a whole.  The Strip made $73.3 million in baccarat in March, which is more than 34% less than the same month last year.

 GGR from the game is down 3.5% year over year for the first quarter of the year, but it's down -15.6% over the last 12 months.  Aside from baccarat, the Strip has had bad luck with all of its table games.

 The gross gaming revenue (GGR) for Strip table games dropped 16.6% in March, to $262 million.  This area has lost more than 3% in the last three months and over 7% in the last twelve months.

 Reno is in charge of getting to the north.
 In northern Nevada, March was mostly a boring month, but Reno saw some good deals.  The Biggest Little City's income went up 10% year over year to $57.6 million.  Reno is up 1.3% so far this fiscal year, with $573.5 million in GGR. This is the most of any big northern market.

 Table games did much better in Reno this month ($10.2 million, +12.3%) than they did on the Strip.  With $47.4 million in slot GGR, the market was also up more than 10%.

 Sparks ($14.9 million, -2%) and South Lake Tahoe ($14.7 million, -7%) were two other big markets in the north that mostly saw sales go down.  Wendover, which is the second-highest producer in the north after Reno, made the same amount of money as the previous month, $25 million.

 Big money is won on March Madness bets.
 Everyone in the business world was unhappy with this year's March Madness results, which saw favourites win big.  For the first time since 2008, all four No. 1 seeds made it to the Final Four. In the end, Florida beat Houston to win the national title.

 Nevada's gambling on sports brought in $22.2 million, which is more than 25% less than the same time last year.  $15.5 million, or 40% less, came from mobile gaming.  The amount bet on basketball was $24.5 million, which is 24% less than the year before.

 The Strip did a little better, losing only 16.6% to $7.5 million.  The state's basketball results were the same as the state's total results: they went down 20% to $10.6 million.

 Fears of a trade war and a slump keep people from visiting.
 For Las Vegas (and Nevada as a whole), the drop in visitors may be more worrying than the drop in income.  As a city and state that depend on tourism, people are very worried about how trade wars and the resulting recession could affect foreign travel.

 The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority just released new numbers showing that 3.38 million people visited in March, which is almost 8% less than the same month last year.  Even though meeting travel went up by 10% and daily room rates went up on the Strip (3.9%) and in the city as a whole (3.1%), this happened.

 4.84 million people used Harry Reid International Airport last year, which is 4% less than the previous year.  It was 135,402 cars going on all roads every day, which is up 2%.