If you've visited Las Vegas' Venetian Casino lately and found the cards a little colder than usual, or noticed the dice just didn't bounce your way -- well, you're not alone. Thursday morning, parent company Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) announced that table win percentage at the property finished the third quarter at a lucky (or unlucky, depending on your point of view) 23.9% -- well ahead of last year's 18% and above the high end of the company's expected range of 20%-21%.

With Lady Luck turning her back on players, the Venetian was able to generate casino revenues of $94.3 million -- an impressive 21% increase over the same period a year ago. Those gains helped offset flat performance elsewhere, as the food-and-beverage and retail departments both reported minimal improvements, and revenues per available room (RevPAR) remained unchanged at $195. Overall, the property produced an 8.6% increase in EBITDAR (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and rent) to $64.6 million, on revenues that rose 9.1% to $182.6 million.

As has been the case, though, the company's Sands Macau casino continues to lead the way. Las Vegas Sands was the first U.S.-based company to enter the fast-growing market and has had little trouble attracting high rollers since first opening its doors in the Chinese colony last May. For the quarter, earnings at the property jumped 30% to $90.1 million, while revenues surged 48% to $244.5 million.

Fueling that growth was rolling chip volume -- the primary metric used to measure VIP play -- of $3.2 billion. While there was no VIP program in place last year (it was launched this past March), the figure does represent a sharp 60% sequential increase from the second quarter. Meanwhile, slot handles spiked nearly 75% to $190.4 million. Not only did the number of machines installed rise by more than half, but each slot generated wins of $218 per day -- 5% more than last year's total and 15% better than the counterparts at the Venetian.

Overall, the two properties combined to produce a 33% improvement in adjusted earnings to $0.28 per share, topping estimates by a penny. With most of the major gaming companies already reporting, third-quarter results have been mixed but generally strong enough to dispel the notion that the industry is entering a sharp slowdown -- which has sparked a broad selloff in recent months.

Adjusted earnings were up 36% at MGM Mirage (NYSE:MGM), where the recent Mandalay acquisition helped non-gaming revenues more than double. And upscale Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN) proved that the high end of the market remains healthy, with industry-leading average daily room rates of $265 and an impressive average daily table win of $7,321 (versus $5,691 at Venetian).

With a portfolio of just two properties, Las Vegas Sands may lack the capacity of its larger rivals. However, the company is a formidable adversary for the likes of Wynn and MGM at the high end of the market, and its exclusive Paiza Club -- an invitation-only, high-limit VIP gaming parlor -- continues to successfully court big bettors. The company is also moving forward with ambitious development plans, with the $1.6 billion Palazzo expansion and a lavish new resort on the Cotai strip of Macau both expected to open within the next two years.

Even in Las Vegas, bigger is not necessarily better.

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Fool contributor Nathan Slaughter owns none of the companies mentioned.