Las Vegas Strip, Nevada score big casino wins against players in January
Nevada casinos had their second-best win performance in history in January, the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported Thursday.
And that came a month after recording their best month ever.
Nevada and Strip casinos also had their highest percentage win increases in months in January.
Strip win — the amount casinos won from players — was up 22.5 percent to $840.1 million, boosting the state’s win by 12.5 percent to $1.43 billion for the month.
Clark County’s win was up 13.3 percent to $1.26 billion, but downtown Las Vegas win dipped 2.3 percent to $83.7 million.
Baccarat was the difference-maker in January results as casinos played luckier than gamblers.
On the Strip, baccarat win totaled $214.3 million, up 121 percent from January 2024. Volume was up 35.8 percent to $801.3 million. But this year, the casino hold was 26.74 percent compared with 16.43 percent in 2024.
Table games and sports betting followed similar patterns, and slot machine win was up, but not as dramatically as baccarat.
Of the 20 statewide markets monitored by the Control Board, seven had double-digit percentage increases and 17 were up from January 2024.
The Strip percentage increase was the highest, but South Lake Tahoe was close behind with 22.4 percent increase to $22.3 million.
Elko County also was a big winner in January with Wendover up 14.3 percent to $22.4 million, with the entire county up 13 percent to $32.7 million.
The results boosted Nevada’s 2024-25 fiscal year total into positive territory. For the seven months since July 1, state gaming win is now up 0.03 percent to $9.28 billion.
The increases also turned around the fortunes of state tax coffers. For the first time since the start of the fiscal year, gaming percentage fees are ahead of the 2023-24 fiscal year. Based on tax collections as of Wednesday, the state’s casinos have generated $688.6 million in percentage-based gaming fees for the general fund, up 0.58 percent from the previous year.
The state has a 6.75 percent tax on casinos’ gross gaming revenue.
A soft January in ‘24?
Michael Lawton, the Control Board’s senior economic analyst, theorized that January 2024 gaming numbers may have been softer than normal because typical Las Vegas visitors may have held back travel until February to be in the city for Super Bowl 58 instead. He also noted that this year, New Year’s Day fell at midweek and many travelers extended their stays to four or five days, while New Year’s Eve 2023 fell on a Sunday and travelers were satisfied with a three-day weekend.
Lawton also noted several special events in Las Vegas in January, including two nights of Janet Jackson performances at Resorts World Las Vegas, The Killers performing at Caesars Palace’s Colosseum three nights, the Eagles residency at the Sphere Jan. 17-25 and Mariah Carey starting a residency at Park MGM on Jan. 31. In addition, there was a home Raiders game at Allegiant Stadium against the Los Angeles Chargers in January.
State finances will be at a disadvantage this year because 2025 has 365 days compared with 366 in 2024.
“January 2025 represents the second-highest win total all-time and the 47th consecutive month that the state has recorded $1 billion in monthly gaming win,” Lawton said.
Visitation numbers
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported convention attendance in January was up 12.8 percent from last year to 628,800, but overall visitation was down 1.1 percent to 3.3 million people.
Kevin Bagger, vice president of the LVCVA Research Center, said convention attendance was marked with appearances by CES, the World of Concrete, World Market Center’s Winter show, and the Total Product Expo, which fell fully in January instead of over January and February dates a year ago.
Because hotel room inventory is down 3.7 percent to 150,325 rooms from last year, the occupancy rate climbed 3 percentage points to 81.9 percent for the month. That also resulted in a higher average daily room rate, which was calculated at $195.35 a night, up 2.2 percent from a year ago.
Room rates in February are expected to be down considerably this year because resorts were able to charge the highest rates of the year in February 2024 when Las Vegas hosted the Super Bowl.
Passenger traffic was flat at Harry Reid International Airport but inbound traffic on major highways was up 2.7 percent over January 2024 to 117,897 a day, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation, which doesn’t differentiate between tourists and local traffic. At the Nevada-California line on Interstate 15, the department estimated 39,533 vehicles a day, up 3.1 percent from last year.
Both Laughlin and Mesquite had increased numbers of visitors in January.
In Laughlin, visitor volume was up 8 percent to 95,000, the LVCVA said, while in Mesquite, volume soared 15.3 percent to 83,000.
Laughlin’s occupancy rate was calculated at 37.3 percent, down 1.8 percentage points from January 2024, with the average daily room rate at $57.63, up 9.3 percent.
In Mesquite, occupancy was 86.4 percent, up 13.3 percentage points, and the average room rate was $74.82, up 2.5 percent.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.