Inside Gaming: Strip room rates to remain low in October, analyst says
A new pricing study of Strip room rates says the rest of October will remain soft with gradual improvement coming in November.
Barry Jonas, managing director of Atlanta-based Truist Securities, said in a Monday report that a recent Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority-coordinated advertising campaign has had moderate success.
“We continue to see the summer doldrums spilling into October (layering in recent citywide value promotions), followed by a more promising November,” Jonas said in his report.
“We think the Strip was modestly impacted from some increased promo activity to help fight the ‘Vegas is expensive’ narrative,” he said.
Jonas said MGM Resorts International properties are expected to benefit most from the recent campaign.
The Truist survey is conducted weekly by tracking 13 weeks of forward internet room rates for 28 casinos across the Strip. The survey tracks leisure rates, not casino or group, and uses the lowest available room prices which can include some suite or deluxe rooms when a standard room is sold out.
Macao slows
Macao had its second-lowest month of gross gaming revenue for 2025 in September, thanks mostly to two typhoons that pummeled the region.
Macao’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau reported gaming revenue of $2.28 billion (U.S.) for the month, a 6 percent increase over September 2024. Only January had a lower amount of gaming revenue in the market.
The month gave Macao a nine-month total of $22.6 billion (U.S), up 7.1 percent from the same period a year ago.
Asian analysts said Macao visitation got off to a slow start in October, a Golden Week holiday period in China, but later in the week, numbers started to improve.
Jeffries analyst Anne Ling reported Typhoon Ragasa resulted in trip cancellations for Sept. 23-24, and Typhoon Matmo led to canceled flights on Oct. 5, but casino operations were not affected.
Three Las Vegas-based casino companies have operations in Macao.