Las Vegas Visitation, Gaming Revenue Continue to Fall

^{The sun rises on a new day in downtown Las Vegas – a new day with less growth. (Photo: courtesy of LVCVA)}

The trend of Las Vegas casino visits and gaming revenue trailing 2024 continues. For the fourth consecutive month visitation and gaming revenue numbers fell. 

Overall visitation to Las Vegas in May was down 6.5% from 2024. The number would have been worse without the 10.7% increase of visitors in town for conventions. That didn’t help hotel room occupancy and room rates.

Gaming revenue throughout Las Vegas fell in May. While the Vegas Strip was off 3.9%, downtown Las Vegas casinos saw a much more drastic dip of 11.4% for the month. 

There’s seemingly no end in sight for the decrease in visitation and gaming revenue. On the bright side for visitors, hotel room rates are dropping and casinos falling revenue means that gamblers aren’t losing as much money.

Visitation Decreasing From Far and Near

The decrease in visitors to Las Vegas is broadbased. While Canadians are skipping flights to America, regional customers from California aren’t making their regular road trips across the boarder to Las Vegas.

Forbes is reporting that Canadian visitation to America was down 38% in May. Air traffic from Canada to Las Vegas was down but not quite as bad. According to Harry Reid International Airport, passengers deplaning from WestJet was down 34.6% while Air Canada was down just over 21% for the month. 

For the year, there have been 37,125 few passengers from WestJet and 11,184 fewer from Air Canada. 

About half of the visitors to Las Vegas arrive by car. In May, auto traffic to Las Vegas fell by approximately 0.7%, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Cars arriving from the California border were down 5% for the month. 

The decrease in auto traffic is relatively new as it’s actually up 2.3% compared to last year.

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Hotel Room Rates Dropping 

Fewer visitors means less people staying in hotels. Hotel room occupancy was 83%, down 3.1% from May last year. 

For the year, occupancy is down 1.3% from 83.9% to 82.6%. 

The average hotel room rate in Las Vegas continues to fall as well. Overall room rates in Las Vegas fell 2.2% in May. 

The increase in convention visitors in Las Vegas for conventions might have helped the Vegas Strip casinos to “only” a 1.2% rate decrease to $212.46. Downtown Las Vegas room rates were hit much harder falling 12.4% to $109.39.

For the year, Vegas Strip room rates are down 4.6% to $213.78 while downtown prices are 3% lower to $105.63.

Casinos throughout Las Vegas are discounting their rooms as much as 40%. Some are even dropping resort and parking fees to attract bodies. 

Gaming Revenue Down

Even though statewide gaming revenue was down just over 2%, total income from gambling has been over $1 billion for 51 consecutive months. 

The majority Nevada gaming revenue comes from Clark County, where Las Vegas is located. Revenue for these casinos fell 2.5% from $1.14 billion last May to $1.11 billion. For the year gaming income is down 1.40%.

Vegas Strip area casinos saw a dip of 3.87% in gaming revenue with a decrease in both slot and table game winnings. These casinos did see a sizable 31.6% increase in revenue from the sportsbook.

Downtown Las Vegas casinos collected 11.36% less than a year ago. A 21.21% increase in table game winnings was offset by 24.61% less revenue from slots. 

Are Gamblers Skipping Vegas For Laughlin?

Laughlin sits on the Colorado River about 90 minutes from Las Vegas. It’s a very different casino market that has older properties with fewer amenities. 

It’s part of Clark County and saw increases in visitation and gaming revenue in May while the more popular tourist destinations saw decreases.

Visitation to Laughlin is up 8.2% for the year. In May alone, visitation increased by 11.2% to 129,000. 

Hotel room rates in May jumped 8.8% to $69.36. That’s significantly lower than any segment of Las Vegas. 

While fewer people are driving to Laughlin, the number of passengers flying was up 27.8% in May. 

Unlike the diverse visitor to Las Vegas, it appears as though many of the new visitors are gambling. Gaming revenue was up 17.03% in May. 

This could be a blip on the radar or a sign of those who visit Las Vegas to gamble getting tired of paying more for room, food, and beverages while playing games with worse odds. 

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