Las Vegas has been on a financial tear since the full lifting of COVID restrictions, but there will always be hiccups.
According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s (NGCB) monthly revenue report, the Las Vegas Strip’s gaming win – essentially profit from gambling offerings – plunged 15% in July 2024 compared to the same month a year ago.
The $709.3 million in gaming win from Strip casinos in July is still a lot of money, to be sure, but it is a far cry from the $834.9 million in July 2023.
Key Highlights
- Gaming revenue on the Las Vegas Strip dropped 15% in July 2024, and Nevada is down by 7%.
- Clark County had mixed results, with growth in Downtown Las Vegas and the Boulder Strip, but declines in North Las Vegas and Laughlin.
- Nevada’s drop in gaming win is partly due to a tough comparison with July 2023, which saw record-high numbers.
Vegas Strip Is Not the Only Decliner
It wasn’t all bad in Clark County, where Las Vegas is located. Downtown Las Vegas casinos saw their win improve by 9.9%, from $65.4 million in July 2023 to $71.9 million in July 2024.
The Boulder Strip’s win was also up 7.9%, while Mesquite’s increased 4.1%.
Other decliners included North Las Vegas (-5%) and Laughlin (-5.9%). The uncategorized areas of Clark County saw gaming win rise 19%, but overall, the county was down 7.4%.
I would not call this the start of any downturn. Given last year’s numbers, a drop was somewhat expected.”
– Michael Lawton, NGCB’s Senior Economic Analyst
Nevada Couldn’t Live Up to Hot 2023
Most of the rest of Nevada experienced a decrease in gaming win, leading to an overall decline for the state of 6.9%, from $1.4 billion in July 2023 to $1.3 billion in July.
NGCB’s Senior Economic Analyst Michael Lawton told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that people should not read into the gaming win decline as a sign of anything wrong. In fact, it may have even been expected to some extent.
Lawton pointed out that July 2023 saw the second-highest win total in Nevada history, so July 2024 had its work cut out for it from the start not to fall well short, never mind actually do better.
Drilling down further, it appears that the percentage of money the casinos won at their games, also known as table hold, could be the real culprit.
The total win percentage statewide in July 2024 was 14.39%, down from a whopping 17.62% in 2023, which was the highest that figure had reached in almost 37 years.
Every game had a positive hold, but at the same time, most games saw a decline in win from last year.
The most dramatic plunge was at the baccarat tables, where the casino win of $73.6 million was a stunning 61.91% decrease from the same month last year.
The win percentage for baccarat was only 9.69%, a steep drop from July 2023’s number of 23.52%, the highest in 20 years.
One of the saving graces was blackjack, which the NGCB calls “Twenty One.” It had by far the highest win of any table game (slots are much higher and given their own category breakdown) at $117 million, an increase of 7.65%.
US Online Casino Markets Rising
As ubiquitous as gambling is in Nevada, the state does not have legal online casino gaming (it does have one online poker room, WSOP.com).
Just seven states have legalized online casinos: Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia.
Overall, those seven states did very well in July 2024. According to Alex Weldon, they collected total gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $671.8 million, a sharp increase of 32.6% from the same month a year ago.
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Michigan form a clear top three in the US online casino market, which makes sense considering they are much bigger than the other four states.
Pennsylvania brought in $215.4 million in GGR, New Jersey had $195.4 million, and Michigan generated $191.4 million.
Delaware enjoyed far and away the largest growth year-over-year. Its $5.2 million in gross gaming revenue in July 2024 represented a tremendous 339.5% increase over July 2023.
The leap comes from the launch of the state’s first online sportsbook, BetRivers, in January 2024. Online gaming registrations skyrocketed as a result, fueling the increase in gross gaming revenue in the months since.
Sources
https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/casinos-gaming/nevada-sees-first-drop-in-gaming-win-in-4-months-3148582/
https://gaming.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/gamingnvgov/content/about/abb-revenue/2024Jul-arrevenue.pdf
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