Nevada gaming win increases slightly, visitation up in May

Nevada casinos saw a nearly 2.5 percent increase in gaming win in May, and capped the highest earning 12-month period on record for the state’s industry.

Total gross gaming win for the 12-month period between June 2023-May 2024 was $15.72 billion, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s monthly gaming report released Thursday.

The monthly data showed statewide gaming win reached $1.32 billion in May.

Clark County was the biggest piece of that win, earning $1.19 billion or a 2.9 percent increase year over year, according to the monthly report. The Strip won $742 million, a 3.7 percent increase. Downtown Las Vegas also had a modest increase in gaming win of 1.6 percent.

The state’s worst performance in May was in Laughlin, where gaming wins dropped 21.1 percent.

For the fiscal year that runs July through June, the state’s gaming win has increased 4.5 percent. May was the 39th straight month that state gaming win exceeded $1 billion.

Michael Lawton, senior economic analyst for the Gaming Control Board, said the month stood out because it wasn’t solely reliant on baccarat win on the Las Vegas Strip. The statewide win of $126.4 million fell 5.5 percent over the year, the first decrease since June 2023.

Non-baccarat game and table win increased 11 percent, largely because of the favorable results from blackjack, roulette and sportsbooks, Lawton said.

Visitor volume

Additional visitation data released Thursday filled out May’s tourism indicator profile. More than 3.6 million people visited the Las Vegas area, a 4.6 percent increase from May 2023.

According to the Las Vegas and Convention Authority’s monthly visitation report, festivals and increased convention attendance helped boost the “healthy” year-over-year growth, LVCVA’s vice president of research Kevin Bagger wrote in the report.

Convention attendance rose to 461,900, a 1.8 percent increase from the previous year. Waste Expo, which was last in Vegas in 2022, and the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo were among the largest shows with about 14,000 and 10,000 attendees, respectively.

The average daily room rate was about $200 in the Las Vegas Valley last month, a 9.1 percent increase from $183.40 last year. Hotel occupancy reached 86.1 percent for the month.

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.