Nevada gaming win drops in September, still hits $1B mark

September gaming win fell slightly from a year ago, an anticipated decline resulting in part from the Labor Day weekend beginning in August, the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported Wednesday.

Despite the statewide 2.3 percent dip and Clark County’s 2.9 percent decline, both win totals still hit more than $1 billion for the state’s 443 and Clark County’s 217 major casinos.

For the first quarter of the 2025-26 fiscal year, win is still ahead of the 2024-25 year and only two of the 20 submarkets monitored by the Control Board have reported winning less than they did a year ago.

Outlying Clark County markets performed better than the Strip and downtown Las Vegas for the month with the Strip down 5.5 percent to $687.8 million and downtown off 2 percent to $89.2 million.

The North Las Vegas market was flat and the Boulder Strip, Laughlin, Mesquite and outlying Clark County were all up by single-digit percentages.

The worst September performance came in Sparks, down 10.2 percent to $14.2 million.

Gaming industry analyst Daniel Politzer of New York-based JP Morgan, said Strip slot performance was strong, but offset by volatile baccarat play, which flipped unfavorably because of lower hold percentages for the game.

“Given the Strip’s soft leisure backdrop (we expect Strip revenue per available room to be down again when we get Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority data this afternoon), the Strip’s stable gaming trends continue to stand out,” Politzer wrote in a Wednesday note to investors.

For the first quarter of the fiscal year, state gaming win is up 2.3 percent to $3.9 billion and Clark County, boosted by the Strip’s $2.1 billion win, is up 1.7 percent to $3.3 billion.

Clark County and the Strip continue to be the gaming workhorse for the state with the county accounting for 85 percent of the state’s win.

As of Friday, the state had collected $87 million in gaming taxes from September winnings, a 12.3 percent decline from a year ago. But collections for the quarter are still up 7.6 percent from last year to $347.2 million.

Later Wednesday, the summer pattern of lower visitation with higher gaming win will be determined when the LVCVA produces September’s Southern Nevada visitation statistics.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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