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Arizona gambling feels economic pinch, report shows
The willingness of the average Arizonan to spend money gambling apparently is cooling.
New figures Monday from the Arizona Gaming Department pegged gross gaming revenue for tribal casinos at $1.98 billion for the most recent 12 months of calculations. That is up just 1.9 percent from the same period a year earlier, less than the state's rate of population growth.
But the figures are actually more dismal than that.
Because of the way the state keeps its books, the numbers do not include tribal gaming revenue for April through June. And figures already provided by the Arizona Department of Gaming show gaming dollars during those three months were 7.5 percent below the same three months in 2007.
The slowdown is not unique to tribal gaming.
Art Macias, executive director of the Arizona Lottery, said Monday that total revenue from the state-run games was up just 2.3 percent in the 12 months ending June 30.
Macias said that the sale of "scratchers" tickets - which he said are most linked to disposable income - actually shrank by 3 percent. Only stronger sales of the "pick" games, which are less than half of all revenue, kept total lottery proceeds from declining.
And state racing director Luis Marquez said that the amount wagered at horse and dog tracks in Arizona last fiscal year was $252.8 million, down $13.9 million from the prior year.
Sheila Morago, executive director of the Arizona Indian Gaming Association, said the numbers from the 15 tribes that operate22 casinos are not surprising, given the state's economy.
"Gambling is a form of recreation," she said. Morago compared it to people making decisions whether to go to a movie, go out to dinner or even "go shopping for a nice pair of shoes."
What's happening, she said, is that people are making decisions against spending money.
"They're holding on very tight to their disposable income," she said. "I know I am."
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