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It may seem unlikely, perhaps even impossible, but Las Vegas managed to pull off something of a miracle. New numbers on revenues for Las Vegas gaming during the month of July show that the city pulled in an estimated billion dollars. The city was able to do this even though tourism for that same month was down.

Most analysts suggest that one of the major reasons the city was able to make such a stunning amount of money in a single month was tied to several high rollers arriving in town to play their favorite game, baccarat. In the month of July alone, baccarat raked in nearly $190 million.

While many people do not play baccarat, or even know how to play the game best known for its appearance in many James Bond movies of yesteryear, many of those who do enjoy the game are very well-heeled. Their love of the game helped the city to increase its revenues by over 100 percent when compared to numbers from July 2011. What surprised many analysts was that during this same time tourism to the city was down.

According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Vegas hosted an estimated 3.4 million visitors in July of 2012. This represented a decrease of about 0.8 percent from what was reported for July of 2011. The number of visitors during that time period was estimated to be almost 3.5 million.

Even though the increased revenues for July were a welcome sight for many struggling gaming concerns, analysts suggest that no one get a swelled head just yet. They suggest that the city’s gaming concerns need to see a steady increase in revenues, month after month, before assuming that the worst is over in terms of the sluggish economy. They caution that with some much of July’s revenues coming from a single game (baccarat, in this case) and from such a select clientele, the loss of that clientele would bring revenues back down. They would prefer to see more across the board revenues being generated by more diverse activities and players.

In related news, Atlantic City also saw a big increase in its revenues for August. Some of the casinos located in Atlantic City saw double digit increases in the monthly revenues for August when compared to revenues a year ago. Even smaller casinos and hotels were able to see profits in what is now considered a “financially struggling locale”. While there are no hard and fast reasons for this increase, good weather and a wide array of local, public events are being touted as possible reasons for Atlantic City’s good fortune.

At the same time, plans for a new casino in Atlantic City were nixed on September 12. The reason for canceling the project is said to be the city’s sluggish economy as well as lower revenues for casinos that are already in business in the area. This would seem contrary to what most of the casinos are reporting in the revenue reports, at least for the current time period.

It is a simple fact: the global demand for Shuffle Master products has definitely increased the company’s quarterly profits. The company sells and leases card shufflers and slot machines and demand for its products has never been higher. This continued steady revenue generation has made this company a star in the world of both online gaming and casino gaming where its products are becoming staples found in most of the better gaming establishments.

Shuffle Master is based in Las Vegas and for its FY third quarter (which ended on July 31) the company reports profit earnings of $10.4 million or 18 cents per share. This amount is an increase from year-ago quarter earnings which came in at $9.1 million or 17 cents a share. Overall, company revenue increased 9 percent to $63.4 million.

The company seems to be having good luck across the board as it reports that its installed base of leased shufflers increased by 7 percent and now stands at 8,245. Its shuffler sales and lease revenue is reported to have increased by 8 percent which represents $24.4 million. And its table game revenue rose by an impressive 18 percent to hit $13 million. Revenues for its electronic gaming machines increased as well by 11 percent, representing an estimated $20 million.

In a statement that was recently released by the company, it was reported that an estimated 55 percent of the company’s overall revenue came from sources outside of the US which only makes sense as more and more foreign countries are turning to gaming for revenue generation. It also stated that it hopes this trend continues and that its new products will help to keep the momentum going. One new slot, the Flintstones slot, is expected to be a big hit once it hits the floors in the near future. Other games are in development as well.

Unlike many other gaming product companies that have had to rack up mounting debt, Shuffle Master has no net debt. It also has an estimated $186 million credit line at its disposal. As such, the company is seeking new growth avenues and opportunities which may include acquisitions of other companies.

Other good news for Shuffle Master came this last summer when it received a Nevada license allowing it to provide an online real-money poker system for its casino clients. The company has also received a very similar license in Gibraltar has opened a new office there. The company will continue to invest in developing social gaming products as well as online real money products for use in growing mobile gaming market. The new license from Gibraltar will allow Shuffle Master to aggressively compete in the booming EU online gambling market.

Some of the more popular and well known proprietary table games the company provides include Ultimate Texas Hold’em, Three Card Poker, and Fortune Pai Gow Poker. Release dates and other details of new products have not yet been released. But with earnings such as what Shuffle Master is seeing to date, the company is certain to stay on the move.

There has been a lot buzz and press focusing on tiny Macau lately and for good reason. The small piece of land, a part of China still, has surpassed all expectations in terms of its success with it gaming and resort efforts. In fact, it has become one of the top gaming destinations on the globe, according to industry experts. In just the last three years, Macau has seen an increase in its gaming revenues when other areas that offer gaming have seen dramatic losses.

One has to be careful when assessing expert opinions these days. During the last six months or less, many experts suggested that Macau would begin to lose revenues just as other areas offering gambling opportunities were doing. It is true that Macau did see a drop in its revenues during this period, but its drop was far less than what experts assumed would happen. These same experts expected that Macau’s drop in revenues would last at least until fall or into winter, but that simply did not happen. Revenues for gaming establishments in Macau actually went up in August of this year. When compared to the same time period for 2011, revenues are up by 5.5 percent. This represented in real money an increase of some $3.3 billion.

One should be too harsh with the analysts, however. It is true that in 2010 and ’11 Macau revenues were soaring (at times) to 70 percent over the year prior. This, of course, is a rate that is simply unsustainable, which is what the experts based their opinions upon. By the middle of the year, revenues had dropped into the single digits. But in August, those revenues began to soar again.

Many analyst consider Macau’s popularity to be due to the fact that this tiny piece of land is the closest thing to Las Vegas that Asian populations have at their immediate disposal. Macau itself spent considerable time and energy in making sure that it did things right in terms of accommodations, dining, entertainment, etc which brought it into the spotlight of all international travelers, not just those living in Asian countries. They have done such a good job at it that many of those who would be visiting Vegas are actually taking the extended trip to Macau, if for no other reason than to see what all the hoopla is about. Few are disappointed, it seems.

Just a couple of years ago, the government of Macau was rethinking its position on gaming as it was beginning to feel that Macau was becoming too dependent on the gaming industry. Local casino owners at the time agreed, but for other reasons, one suspects. The plan was to attempt to diversify the local economy, and much of that has happened. However, the success of casino and hotels in the area brought any plans for a complete halt to new establishments to a halt itself.

In addition to Macau being a success, other nearby countries are also seeing an increase in casino and hotel construction. Singapore and Malaysia are just two areas that are actively seeking new facilities, and many established casino owners are investing in these areas.