After months of the bow planes being locked in “Dive,” the submersible U.S.S. Las Vegas Strip finally righted itself, at least for June. Gambling grosses nudged upward 1%, nabbing $765 million. Slots carried the freight, as the one-armed bandits took 10% more, year/year. Baccarat wasn’t the usual disaster but it was down 7%, while all other table games slumped 9.5%. So score one for the low rollers, who saved Las Vegas‘ bacon … and damned little gratitude can they expect for it.
Despite nearly 6% unemployment, locals casinos were strong, grossing $266 million. Slot win jumped 9.5% on 3% more coin-in. Tables brought in $45 million on tight (15%) hold, for a 15% gain, although 11.5% less was laid on the green felt. Perhaps players are seeking better value Downtown: Its gambling grosses swelled 10.5%, reaching $73 million. Indeed, unless one counts rural Wendover ($22 million, flat), all the June auguries were positive. North Las Vegas, despite an ongoing string of casino closures (adios, Poker Palace), was up 4.5% to $24 million. The Boulder Strip leapt 19% to $87.5 million while miscellaneous Clark County climbed 5.5% to $155.5 million. Borderline towns Laughlin ($40 million, +6.5%) and Mesquite ($14 million, +2.5%) also prospered. Even the volatile Washoe County area did well. Reno was up 5.5% to $68 million, Sparks was up 2% to $13.5 million and even Lake Tahoe managed a 2.5% gain to $20 million.
All this was accomplished at a time of an 11% plunge in visitation to Sin City. The U.S. government would appear to have scored a massive own-goal in its war on tourism. International visitors to Las Vegas comprise 12% of the total picture and the administration has succeeded in scaring most of them away. Also, there is considerable anecdotal evidence of a consumer backlash against the Strip’s bottomless greed and nickel-and-dime ways. Recent headlines included “Tourism Down in Las Vegas: Hotel Occupancy Plummets” and “Where Did All the Las Vegas Tippers Go?” Also, “Is Las Vegas in Trouble?” (Short answer: Yes.) Our favorite has to be, “’$50 Charge Because I Unplugged a Cord’: Paris Las Vegas Hotel’s Tiny Print Fee Sums up Why Visitors Are Fleeing the City.” Yes, Caesars Entertainment really ripped off a customer for the unconscionable sin of pulling the plug on the minibar. No wonder Las Vegas hotel occupancy is down 12%.
Even perpetual optimist Steve “The Shill” Hill is fretful. Understating the gravity of the problem, Hill began with “The last couple of months haven’t been quite as good and things are down a little bit as everybody knows.” If Hill thinks the problem is two or three months old, he’s been smoking some awfully good crack. Even he had to acknowledge, though, that the numbers were the worst he’d seen since the Great Recession. Luxury demographics are still doing well—and why not? But “folks around the country are concerned about their jobs and their financial situation causing them to hesitate.” So might Las Vegas’ new reputation as The Ripoff Capital of the World. Players are certainly doing their gambling closer to home. That is incontestable.
The Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority‘s response? “You can come here on any budget and have a great time.” That one’s not going to pass the consumer laugh test—and bitter, hard-earned laughter it will be. Hill’s new slogan is about 25 years out of date. When Hill says, “It is exceptionally difficult now to make a major integrated resort pencil right now,” he’s guilty of committing truth, as Fontainebleau and Resorts World Las Vegas can painfully testify—although we agree that Hard Rock Las Vegas may be the big-buck exception that proves the rule. Still, when Hill blithely says that regional casinos have no effect on Sin City, he sounds dangerously out to lunch. Perhaps we should comp him an S&G subscription …
It’s virtually impossible to square these and other baleful economic indicators with the Panglossian degree of optimism coming out of corporate boardrooms this past week. No business? No problem! Not only did Caesars CEO Tom Reeg and MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle blow smoke up their shareholders’ asses, so did Vici Properties bosses Edward Pitoniak and John Payne. The latter lashed out at reality in a rant whereby three quarters of Strip declines became “a period of normalization” and “a short-term blip.” (A damned expensive blip.) Vici execs pointed to strong convention bookings in late 2025. Fair enough. They also cited “projections” of strong sports and event attendance. Our recollection is that “projections” were similarly roseate at this point in 2008 … and we know what happened then, including two major corporate bankruptcies. Never mind that the economy is a shambles and the S&P Index just fell through the floor. To revive a 2009 MGM marketing slogan, Shut up and play. Or so say our corporate masters.
And then there were … eight? There must be a percentage in Bally’s New York for Mayor Eric Adams (I). In a thoroughly predictable screw-you to the City Council, he vetoed its veto of the $4 billion Soo Kim pipe dream. Since the council has to muster 34 votes to override Hizzoner, it looks like Bally’s is back in the running. The mayor dressed up his decision in rhetoric about how he was giving Bronx citizens a fair economic shake. But not even the legacy media has been fooled. Adams really ought to earn a commission on the $115 million “gaming event fee” (read: kickback) Bally’s has promised to the Trump Organization.
With his political career in ashes (he’s polling no better than 13% in the present mayoral race), the opportunistic Adams is transparently angling for a job with the Trumps, probably in the federal government and nobody is being shy about pointing that out. The corruption runs deeper than Adams: “Campaign attorney Vito Pitta, who also lobbies for Bally’s, and Frank Carone, Adams’ former campaign chairman who has worked for Bally’s chairman, were both linked to the project.” To say that one hand washes the other would understate the number of dirty mitts involved. Still, when the American public can’t get riled up about pedophilia, what’s a little cronyism and graft among buddies? As for Bally’s, its house of cards continues to collapse. If it pulls out an improbable victory in New York State, it will be the first dog that caught multiple cars at once.
JOTTINGS: Although Wall Street is souring on Golden Entertainment, the company hopes to change minds with a revamped casino floor at The Strat (750 slot machines and 44 table games). The question is whether The Strat’s low-roller clientele will return to Las Vegas for this budget-friendly offering, as they’re currently avoiding the Las Vegas Strip in droves … Speaking of economic headwinds, Cedar Crossing will face some when it opens in casino-saturated Iowa. Even so, having survived all legal and regulatory challenges, the pleasure palace is proceeding apace … An attempt to sneak racinos in California has run into Attorney General Rob Bonta. Nor are the state’s Native American tribes turning a blind eye to what are, in essence, slot machines. Tracks may yet thumb their noses at all concerned and try installing the devices, laws be damned …
A state that has casinos in everything but name is Kentucky. Its latest cuddle with the industry takes the form of a 5,100-square-foot, Circa-branded sports book at Kentucky Downs. Maintaining such we’re-not-a-racino fictions is a win-win for all politicians in the Bluegrass State, to say nothing of Circa genius Derek Stevens … Faced with an unpaid tax bill, Hinton, Oklahoma is getting even with the Delaware Nation‘s Casino Oklahoma. Hinton would shut it down by dint of cutting its electrical supply. Perhaps the Delaware should think about building their own generator … Treasure Island is keeping up with the Joneses. Phil Ruffin has inked a pact with Accor Group whereby he gets access to their database and the casino becomes “Treasure Island – TI Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, Handwritten Collection,” cumbersome nomenclature if we ever heard it … Don’t tell Hill The Shill (see above), but Virginia casinos are doing well. In the case of Rivers Portsmouth, business is good enough to warrant a $65 million, 106-room hotel, to debut in early 2027 … Las Vegas is sufficiently hard up for business that game-makers are trying out variants on casino classics. We applaud the initiative—especially if it is accompanied by reasonable table minimums. Or is that asking too much?