Nevada sees strong June gaming performance, sets records

Strong casino win performances in June propelled the state and Southern Nevada to several all-time records for the fiscal year, including the highest win total in history at $15.8 billion, the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported Wednesday.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority also reported Wednesday a modest increase in visitation despite a 7.9 percent decline in convention attendance compared with June 2023.

It was the third straight record performance for a fiscal year and in addition to the state reaching its best ever, submarkets of Clark County, the Las Vegas Strip, downtown Las Vegas, Mesquite, outlying Clark County, Elko County and Wendover also had historic bests.

Gaming win totaled $1.28 billion for the state, a 3.3 percent increase over June 2023, marking the 40th straight month gaming win exceeded $1 billion.

Michael Lawton, the Control Board’s senior economic analyst, said the Strip’s gaming win of $9.1 billion increased 6.1 percent or $519.8 million in fiscal year 2024 after increasing 4.8 percent in fiscal 2023. This year’s total also represents an all-time record for the Strip, beating the previous record of $8.5 billion set last year. The Strip accounted for 57.4 percent of total statewide win, up from 56.5 percent last year.

Lawton said the record gains were driven mostly by volume because casino hold percentages have been fairly consistent except in sports wagering and baccarat.

Casino slot machine win declined 1.6 percent while the amount wagered was up 1.3 percent. Statewide table win excluding baccarat increased just 0.2 percent. But baccarat win was up 37.9 percent while baccarat drop – the amount wagered – increased 12.1 percent. The hold percentage for baccarat was 18.35 percent compared with 14.91 percent the previous year.

In June, sportsbooks won $29.8 million, up 212.7 percent thanks to a hold percentage of 6.19 percent compared with 1.99 percent in June 2023.

The results indicate that the opening of Fontainebleau Las Vegas in December more than offset the closure of the Tropicana in April.

Not every submarket had a better fiscal year than last. Annual declines, all of them less than 3 percent, were reported in North Las Vegas, Laughlin, the Boulder Strip, Sparks, South Lake Tahoe, outlying Elko County and “other,” which represents smaller markets across the state.

Lawton said numerous special events drew crowds in June, including performances by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga at Park MGM and Garth Brooks and Adele at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, two Copa America soccer matches at Allegiant Stadium, a WBA Lightweight title fight at MGM Grand Arena and UFC 303 at T-Mobile Arena.

Las Vegas visitation

The LVCVA reported a 1.8 percent increase in visitation to 3.5 million with convention attendance down 419,300 for the month. Kevin Bagger, who heads research for the LVCVA, said convention numbers were down because of common show rotation schedules.

He said the Society for Human Resource Management, which brought 20,000 attendees to Las Vegas last year met elsewhere in 2024. Also, the Las Vegas Licensing Expo, with 25,000 in attendance, that occurred in June last year met in May this year.

The LVCVA also reported that hotel occupancy was down slightly from last year to 85.2 percent, but the average daily room rate was up 6.4 percent to $175.64 a night.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.