Nevada sees first drop in gaming win in 4 months

Las Vegas Strip gaming win plunged by 15 percent in July leading to the first statewide decline in win in four months, the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported Wednesday.

But experts say the downturn was understandable — July’s win of $1.3 billion was in comparison with July 2023’s strong performance of $1.4 billion, the second highest monthly win total in history.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority on Wednesday also reported minor dips in visitation figures in July.

“No, I would not call this the start of any downturn,” said Michael Lawton, senior economic analyst for the Gaming Control Board who crunches the state’s monthly gaming statistics.

“This was a very difficult comparison as July of ’23 was the second highest win total in state and Strip history due to a very difficult baccarat comp related to hold.”

Lawton explained that table hold — the percentage of money won by casinos on their games — was 14.39 percent this year compared with 17.62 percent last year, the highest in nearly 37 years. Nowhere in the casino was hold more pronounced than in the volatile game of baccarat where the state’s hold was 23.52 percent, the highest since June 2003.

While Strip win was down 15 percent to $709.3 million, win in downtown Las Vegas casinos was up 9.9 percent to $71.8 million and win in outlying Clark County, which includes southwest Las Vegas where the Durango casino entered the market in December, was up 19 percent to $171.2 million.

Volatile submarkets

Other submarkets were similarly volatile.

Win in Sparks was down 11.4 percent from a year ago, North Lake Tahoe was up 14.1 percent, and South Lake Tahoe was flat. In Southern Nevada, the Boulder Strip and Mesquite were up, but Laughlin was down.

Gaming industry analyst Carlo Santarelli of Deutsche Bank also noted there was one fewer weekend day this year compared with July 2023 and that affected the Strip more than locals casinos.

“June ended on a Sunday, and, as such, slot revenue flowed into the July report from the last weekend in June,” Santarelli said in a report to investors. “As such, LV locals slot hold in July was 7.9 percent driving 11 percent slot revenue growth.”

Calendar-year-to-date totals are still ahead of 2023 by 1.6 percent and Lawton noted that Nevada continued to perform at better than prepandemic levels. July also represented the 41st consecutive month that the state has recorded at least $1 billion in monthly gaming win.

Gaming statistics have yet to show the impact of the closure of The Mirage, which occurred July 17.

As usual, entertainment and sporting events drove visitation that led to casino play.

Garth Brooks played at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace July 3-13, Lady Gaga performed at Dolby Live at Park MGM July 3-6, Kevin Hart headlined at Resorts World Las Vegas July 12 and 14 and Mariah Carey began a residency at Dolby Live on July 27.

The Copa America men’s soccer tournament quarterfinal match between Jamaica and Ecuador was played at Allegiant Stadium July 6.

Visitation statistics

The LVCVA reported visitation was down 0.4 percent to 3.5 million for July compared to the same month last year.

Convention attendance was off 6.9 percent to 251,600 and other tourism indicators weren’t as strong as they were a year ago.

Kevin Bagger, vice president of the LVCVA Research Center, said one reason for the decline in convention attendance was due to the absence of the Association of Woodworking and Furnishing Suppliers Fair and its 16,000 attendees this year. The trade show rotated to a different location in 2024.

Most of the key tourism indicators dipped slightly in July, with the occupancy rate down 1.5 percentage points to 83.7 percent, the average daily room rate off 1.8 percent to $160.15 a night and the total number of room nights occupied down 1.5 percent to 3.9 million.

Traffic on highways into Las Vegas also were down 1.5 percent to an average daily estimate of 137,355, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation, which does not distinguish between local and tourist traffic.

The one increase in the statistics: Passenger boardings at Harry Reid International Airport, which were up 2.3 percent to 5.1 million, fourth highest in airport history.

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