Sparks Casino Revenue Jumps 21% in September as Reno Slips

• Sparks’ $17.19 million ran 20.78% above a year earlier, Reno’s $72.99 million ran 3.52% below and Washoe County’s $100.95 million ran 0.36% above.
• Sparks’ $2.96 million gain outweighed Reno’s $2.66 million drop, and outside Sparks the county’s win fell 3.01%.
• Slots drove both moves, down 3.37% to $61.31 million in Reno and up 19.65% to $15.87 million in Sparks.
• Through the July-September quarter Washoe County has grown 4.57%, Reno 4.10% and Sparks 7.02%.

RENO, Nev. – Casinos in Sparks kept $17,194,036 from players in September 2026, 20.78% more than in the same month of 2025, even as Reno casino revenue moved in the opposite direction, 3.52% lower at $72,986,126, the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported Oct. 28. Washoe County as a whole finished 0.36% ahead at $100,953,369. The board calls the figure gaming win, the money left with the casinos once winning bets are paid.

Sparks Added $2.96 Million, More Than Reno Lost

A year earlier Reno had taken in $75,650,657, so the city gave back $2,664,531. Sparks had taken in $14,235,968, so its gain came to $2,958,068, enough to leave Washoe County $358,796 ahead of the $100,594,573 it won last September. Without Sparks, the rest of the county’s win fell 3.01%, or about $2.6 million, so the county’s small gain came entirely from one city.

Reno still supplied 72.3% of the county’s win and Sparks 17.0%. North Lake Tahoe’s $2.22 million came in 1.11% under its $2.25 million of a year earlier, and the $8.55 million from the balance of the county outside the three cities was 1.06% higher. Washoe County’s 0.36% gain compares with a statewide total of $1.28 billion that slipped 0.05%, and the county supplied 7.9% of it.

Win is the revenue measure regulators publish for legal gambling in the USA, so a gain can reflect more money wagered, a larger share of it kept, or both.

Reno’s Slots Caused About $2.1 Million Of The Drop

Slot machines produced $61.31 million of Reno’s win, or 84%, and the board’s Gaming Revenue Report shows them down 3.37%. Working back from the board’s percentage changes, slots lost about $2.1 million, roughly 80% of the city’s decline. Table, counter and card games, a category that also holds keno and the sports pool, lost about $0.5 million, falling 4.32% to $11.68 million.

The slot loss sat in the one-cent and dollar machines. One-cent slots fell 19.31% to $8.15 million and dollar slots fell 28.28% to $1.73 million, together about $2.6 million. Multi-denomination machines, 82% of Reno’s slot win, rose 2.39% to $50.34 million, adding about $1.2 million. The report does not say why players or casinos shifted between those groups.

Reno’s slots kept 5.62% of the money wagered, or 5.62 cents of every dollar, which returns $94.38 of each $100 to players. That math puts play at roughly $1.09 billion across 8,893 machines, which each won about $230 a day on average.

Blackjack, which the board lists as Twenty One, fell 24.30% to $2.84 million at an 11.23% hold, the share of table drop the casinos kept, a loss of about $0.9 million that exceeds the category’s entire $0.5 million net decline. Craps rose 7.94% to $1.14 million.

Sparks Slots Rose 19.65% At A Normal Hold

Sparks is a slot market. Its machines won $15.87 million, 92.3% of the city’s win, and the 19.65% increase supplied about $2.6 million of the $2.96 million gain. Table, counter and card games rose 36.19% to $1.33 million, and the sports pool within that group rose 70.49% to $577,000.

Multi-denomination machines won $11.50 million, up 19.22%, and one-cent machines won $3.74 million, up 23.24%, the opposite of Reno’s one-cent decline. The slots kept 5.45 cents of each dollar played, within 0.07 points of the 5.41% for the quarter and the 5.38% over the 12 months through September, so September’s total was not a one-month spike in what the machines held.

Sparks’ 4,002 machines each won about $132 a day on average, against about $230 on Reno’s 8,893.

September 2025 Set A Low Bar In Sparks And A High One In Reno

The board’s quarter totals show how much of September’s swing is the comparison month. By subtraction, Reno won $156.50 million in July and August combined against $144.78 million a year earlier, up 8.09%, while Sparks won $34.51 million against $34.08 million, up 1.28%, and Washoe County won $214.37 million against $200.95 million, up 6.68%.

Sparks’ $17.19 million this September was level with the $17.26 million monthly average of July and August 2026, but last September’s $14.24 million had trailed the $17.04 million average of July and August 2025.

Reno ran the other way. Its $72.99 million this September fell short of its $78.25 million July-August average, while last September’s $75.65 million had topped the $72.39 million average of the summer months before it. Sparks’ 20.78% therefore flatters the city, and Reno’s 3.52% overstates its slowdown.

Fiscal Year And 12-Month Totals Stay Ahead

Washoe County’s total for July 1 through Sept. 30 stands at $315.32 million, 4.57% above the $301.54 million of a year earlier, while the statewide total grew 1.67%. Reno’s three-month figure is $229.48 million, 4.10% above $220.43 million, and Sparks’ is $51.71 million, 7.02% above $48.31 million. The balance of the county’s $26.32 million for the quarter was 5.86% higher, while North Lake Tahoe’s $7.81 million was 1.45% lower.

Over the 12 months through September, Reno won $833.6 million, up 6.41%, including $681.7 million from slots, up 6.62%. Washoe County won $1.15 billion, up 6.78%, and Sparks $194.3 million, up 8.94%.

The board said its win totals reflect the most recent data available and are subject to revision, and they cover only the state’s licensed casinos, not Nevada online gambling sites. The Nevada Gaming Control Board generally publishes a month’s figures in the last week of the following month, which puts October’s report in late November.