Gaming Stocks Get Brief Thrill From Nevada Monthy Winnings Report

Nevada gaming stocks saw a short-lived spike Friday on news that June winnings in the state rose more than 14 percent according to its gambling regulators. Best in show was the Las Vegas Strip, where the raw number rose 22.45 percent to a whopping $532.4 million. The city's more dowdy downtown increased only 11.89 percent to $41.2 million. Players in up-and-coming North Las Vegas picked up $23.9 million, an improvement of 22.69 percent from last year. Elsewhere in Nevada, things were less encouraging: Reno winnings fell 3 percent to $47.7 million. Sparks was down 0.7 percent to $9.5 million and Mesquite tumbled 6.5 percent to $7.6 million. Although shares generally spiked briefly on the news, by mid-morning the thrill was mostly gone. Boyd Gaming Corp.

was up 1.3 percent to $10.89; MGM Resorts International

was up nearly 1 percent to $26.17. Las Vegas Sands Corp.

was largely unchanged $73.04; Wynn Resorts, Ltd.

was down slightly after an earlier spike and was trading recently at $203.73 a share.