Catastrophic baccarat results (-66.5%) put Las Vegas Strip gambling revenues on ice last month. Although $727.5 million was wagered on the volatile game, casinos won only $64 million. That’s a measly 9% hold and a big comedown from the $190 million won in July 2023. Baccarat is the house’s Achilles heel and July 2024 was an example of how big swings at the tables can help ruin a quarter. Overall, Strip casinos took home $709 million last month, a 15% plunge year/year. Other table games were actually decent, up a point at $226.5 million despite 14% less wagering. Slot machines were a wash at $419 million, but coin-in was down 4%.
By contrast, locals casinos were boffo, raking in $279.5 million for a 13% leap. Both slots ($228.5 million) and tables ($51 million) were up bigly, +10.5% and +25% respectively. It would have an average month for the Strip (visitation was flat with last year) were it not for that darn baccarat. But what accounted for the local surge? Players flocked to Downtown (+10%), for one thing, as it grossed $72 million. Durango Resort and promotional wars continued to supercharge miscellaneous Clark County, which vaulted 19% to $171 million. North Las Vegas got left out, down 5% to $28 million, while the Boulder Strip jumped 8% to $85.5 million. So we’re obviously not looking at an isolated Durango phenomenon. (Photo below by Kerry Carnohan)
Occupancy in Las Vegas hotels—diluted by new capacity—ran 84%, as convention attendance slid 7%, thanks in part to the absence of the AWFS Fair. Tourism, however, was robust, as a 93% weekend occupancy rate testifies. Midweek, hotels ran at 80% of capacity. Car traffic was down 1.5% but air travel more than made for it.
Laughlin suffered a bit (-6%), grossing $44 million. Seriously, who wants to travel to that sun-baked slab in July? Mesquite, however, hopped 4% to $13.5 million. Its sibling city, Wendover, was not so well off, slipping 6% to $22 million. Indeed, the rest of Nevada (a few small casinos excepted) didn’t do especially well. Reno dipped 4% to $69 million and the novelty factor is really off Sparks, plunging 11.5% to $15 million. At least Lake Tahoe, the most volatile market in the Silver State, was flat at $31 million, so thanks for that.
Just in time for football season, the American Gaming Association and its prexy, Bill Miller, have a new survey out, one showing just how thoroughly mainstreamed gambling has become in the United States. The wide-angle view is that 75% of respondents believe Big Gaming behaves responsibly, while 88% regarded gambling as an acceptable form of entertainment. Have we become a nation of punters? It sure looks that way, with 55% of those surveyed having placed a bet in the last year. Only 28% of respondents were casino gamblers but 21% bet on sports and 75% overall supported sports wagering in the states where it is legal.
Even if they weren’t gambling, 49% visited a casino for some reason, showing how interwoven in the fabric of communities the industry has become. That’s the highest level in 11 years and surpasses the pre-Covid-19 high of 44%. The gambler is also getting younger, now averaging 42 years of age. 76% of all of them believe the industry has a positive impact and the leading reason given for patronizing casinos was the belief that they represent good value for the dollar. Two-thirds think the industry is doing a good job on disordered gambling (that’s a number that could use improvement) and 80% say it provides good-paying jobs. True that. As report cards go, this one has an impressive number of As and Bs.