{"id":917031,"date":"2026-05-31T10:58:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T17:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/?p=917031"},"modified":"2026-05-31T10:58:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T17:58:28","slug":"strip-surges-again-locals-flat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blog\/strip-surges-again-locals-flat\/","title":{"rendered":"Strip Surges Again, Locals Flat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite a 2% dip in visitation<\/strong> to Sin City, gambling receipts were up again in April. Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> casinos surged 6.5% to $689.5 million. Although a recent survey of gamblers (see “License to Gouge”) overwhelmingly indicated an inclination to visit Downtown<\/strong>, that didn’t show up in the latest data. Downtown casinos were flat at $83.5 million. North Las Vegas<\/strong> ticked up 3% to $25.5 million, while the Boulder Strip<\/strong> was flat at $90 million. Miscellaneous Clark County<\/strong> was also becalmed at $164.5 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Drive-in casinos benefited, though. Laughlin<\/strong> leapt 17% to $47 million and Mesquite<\/strong> was up 4% to $18.5 million. The one worrisome spot was Wendover<\/strong>, unaccountably down 3.5% to $33.5 million. Reno<\/strong> gained 12% to $97 million while Sparks<\/strong> levitated 20% to $15 million. The secret sauce for Strip casinos was baccarat. Without it, those pleasure palaces were up 5%. Table games other than baccarat did tolerably well, rising 4% in spite of 5% lower wagering. Slot coin-in was 5% higher and win was up a corresponding amount. Baccarat win jumped 15% on -2.5% betting.<\/p>\n\n\n

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New product continued<\/strong> to spur casinos in Louisiana<\/strong>. They were up 11% last month. Even long-established gambling houses, though, saw double-digit increases. But has Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> pulled the promotional props out from Horseshoe Lake Charles<\/strong>? It sank 13% into $9 million and comparative irrelevance. L’Auberge du Lac<\/strong> (above<\/em>), in contrast, continued a run of good luck, surging 18.5% to $29 million. Golden Nugget Lake Charles <\/strong>was not greatly outdone, up 5.5% to $25.5 million. Delta Downs<\/strong> also delivered, up 7.5% to $15 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a totally different story in the Shreveport\/Bossier City<\/strong> area, at least where Caesars was concerned. Horseshoe<\/strong> Bossier Cit<\/strong>y exploded 96%, rocketing up to $11 million. However, that wasn’t quite enough to overtake Live Louisiana<\/strong>, leaping 25% to $12 million, or perpetual leader Margaritaville<\/strong>, jumping 9.5% to $14.5 million. Players fled Sam’s Town<\/strong> Shreveport<\/strong> along with Boyd Gaming<\/strong>, as it fell 12.5% to $2.5 million. Incoming owner Bally’s Corp.<\/strong> hopped 11% to $8 million at Bally’s Shreveport<\/strong>. Boomtown Bossie<\/strong>r was up 6% to $4 million and Louisiana Downs<\/strong> continued to prosper away from the Roman Empire, cantering 8.5% higher to $3.5 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bally’s bigger success saga, though, was in Baton Rouge<\/strong>, where its eponymous casino erupted 559.5% from what antediluvian Belle of Baton Rouge<\/strong> used to take. Its April haul was $5 million. While it remained in the #3 position, Bally’s Baton Rouge<\/strong> did succeed in cannibalizing both sister property Queen Casino<\/strong> ($7.5 million, -15.5%) and market leader L’Auberge Baton Rouge<\/strong> ($14 million, -9.5%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last but hardly least was New Orleans<\/strong>. There, it was a two-horse race. Caesars New Orleans<\/strong> continued to accelerate from a slow relaunch, vaulting 22% to $27.5 million. Speaking of reinventions, Treasure Ches<\/strong>t climbed 15.5% to $15 million. Fair Grounds<\/strong> racino hit a pothole, stumbling 11.5% to $3 million, while Boomtown New Orleans<\/strong> slid 9.5% to $9 million. Amelia Belle<\/strong> was flat at $2.5 million, while outlying Evangeline Downs <\/strong>dipped 1.5% to $6 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK, that’s enough for a Sunday afternoon. Enjoy your day of rest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite a 2% dip in visitation to Sin City, gambling receipts were up again in April. Las Vegas Strip casinos surged 6.5% to $689.5 million. Although a recent survey of gamblers (see “License to Gouge”) overwhelmingly indicated an inclination to visit Downtown, that didn’t show up in the latest data. Downtown casinos were flat at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83928,"featured_media":847148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1728],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/luxor-buffet-good-spread-too-bad-otherwise-2.jpg?fit=866%2C759&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917031"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83928"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=917031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":917033,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917031\/revisions\/917033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=917031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=917031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}