Gaming win continues to defy visitation trends in Southern Nevada

Casino gaming win continued to defy summer visitation trends statewide and in Clark County in August, the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported Friday.

Statewide win climbed 5.5 percent to $1.23 billion, while Clark County was up 5.3 percent to $1 billion for the month.

August was the 54th straight month that gaming win exceeded $1 billion.

All but one of the eight Southern Nevada submarkets were up from August 2024 with Laughlin scoring a 10.8 percent increase to $36.3 million to lead by percentage. The Las Vegas Strip was up 5.5 percent to $679.4 million and downtown Las Vegas rose 8.4 percent to $63.2 million.

The Boulder Strip and Mesquite each increased by more than 9 percent with the only down market being outlying Clark County, off 0.9 percent to $142.4 million. That market includes southwest Las Vegas and the Durango casino property that has regularly set monthly records, presenting a tough comparison to beat.

Statewide, only two markets — outlying Clark County and North Lake Tahoe — fared worse in August than they did a year ago.

Elko County had one of its best months of the year with double-digit percentage increases in Wendover and the rest of the county.

Shelley Newell, senior economic analyst with the Gaming Control Board’s Administration Division, said the big increase in Elko County was likely due to the earlier-than-normal Labor Day weekend, which included two days in August.

“The Labor Day Weekend always helps licensees as do all three-day holiday weekends,” Newell said. “In August, the Elko County Fairgrounds also held its annual county races and rodeo. So, ideally there would be more traffic and people passing through those neighboring areas as they head out to attend those races and rodeo events that were held at the fairgrounds.”

Barry Jonas, a gaming industry analyst with Atlanta-based Truist Securities, said casinos also had the advantage of an extra Sunday in August compared with last year.

Analysts said generally casinos were luckier than players with lower-than-usual amounts of money wagered, with a higher casino hold.

For example, Newell said baccarat win increased 52.7 percent over a year ago even though drop decreased 13.9 percent. But the hold percentage increased to 18.3 percent from 19.3 percent a year ago.

Slot win increased 2.2 percent while coin-in increased 3.7 percent to $12.9 billion.

Gaming tax collections benefitted from August’s win performance with September collections up 33.7 percent to $77.1 million. Over the first quarter of gaming tax collections for the fiscal year, revenue is up 16.5 percent to $260.1 million.

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