CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS failing when the table exists

I have the following code:

$db_host = 'localhost';
$db_port = '3306';
$db_username = 'root';
$db_password = 'root';
$db_primaryDatabase = 'dsl_ams';

// Connect to the database, using the predefined database variables in /assets/repository/mysql.php
$dbConnection = new mysqli($db_host, $db_username, $db_password, $db_primaryDatabase);

// If there are errors (if the no# of errors is > 1), print out the error and cancel loading the page via exit();
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
    printf("Could not connect to MySQL databse: %s\n", mysqli_connect_error());
    exit();
}

$queryCreateUsersTable = "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `USERS` (
    `ID` int(11) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
    `EMAIL` varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
    `PASSWORD` varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
    `PERMISSION_LEVEL` tinyint(1) unsigned NOT NULL default '1',
    `APPLICATION_COMPLETED` boolean NOT NULL default '0',
    `APPLICATION_IN_PROGRESS` boolean NOT NULL default '0',
    PRIMARY KEY  (`ID`)
)";

if(!$dbConnection->query($queryCreateUsersTable)){
    echo "Table creation failed: (" . $dbConnection->errno . ") " . $dbConnection->error;
}

Which outputs...

Table creation failed: (1050) Table '`dsl_ams`.`USERS`' already exists

What I don't understand is: isn't IF NOT EXISTS supposed to cancel the execution of the SQL query if that table already exists? In other words, if the table exists, shouldn't it exit that if statement and not echo anything out at all, and not attempt to execute the query?

Just trying to find the best way to "create a table if it doesn't exist" without outputting anything to the user.

You should get a warning, not an error. What version are you running? Anyway if you want to display erros type this before your SQL query: SET sql_notes = 0; and then type SET sql notes=1; after the query.