Are we in a recession? It is not easy to say. Some signs point to a recession and others not. The Fed lowered the interest rate, which is certainly an anti-recession indicator. To most economists and politicians, the answer is generally no. It might be on the horizon, but generally things are pretty good. The latest figures on consumer spending were very positive, even while consumer confidence is slipping. Mixed messages for sure.
By now, everyone has heard of the depressed tourism in Las Vegas. The summer was slow when measured by visitors, mixed when measured by gaming revenue from June and July; August results have not been released. The national media has been ablaze with stories of the struggles in Sin City. That has created some angst among investors and citizens of Nevada and Las Vegas; gaming on the Strip pays a large share of Nevada’s bills. But city officials and casino spokespeople reassure listeners that Vegas is fine.
Still, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has just launched a sale. “Don’t miss five days of the best deals on hotels, shows and more — dropping for a limited time only.” The prior campaign kicked off Sept. 4 with a television advertisement that aired during the NFL’s first game of the 2025 season. The campaign is an indication someone was listening to critics complaining that Vegas was getting too expensive.
Another sign of hearing the complaints came from Wynn Resorts.
Wynn is not known as an everyman resort; it is pricey by choice, designed by Steve Wynn to appeal to well-heeled discriminating connoisseurs of the gambler’s experience. You pay for what you get at Wynn Las Vegas. Only now, Wynn is making bottled water and parking free, beer and soda will be sold at standard, not resort, prices, and its triple zero roulette is being thrown into the rubbish heap. If those are not signs of troubled waters, what are?
How about closing its nightclub? Wynn announced it will close XS Nightclub next year for an extensive remodel. That could be a signal of a recession, if it were an isolated event. But it is not. On the other side of the country, several other big-name casino nightclubs are being closed for remodeling and reimagining. A research assistant at Stephen M. Ross School of Business thinks something bigger is happening, a generation switch: Instead of dancing the night away, the younger generation is staying home, binge watching streaming programs.
Spiegelworld founder Ross Mollison said, “it seems that maybe, just maybe, enough people are done with the long lines to get into a massive club blasting super-loud music, only to be hustled out of $10,000 for a $500 bottle of champagne. They’re looking for something more from a night.” That generation of nightclubs was designed and built to cater to young people with money to spend and a hunger for experience.
Another trend making the rounds fits into this narrative of mixed signals and changing tastes. Celebrity chefs. The Press of Atlantic City had an article on the subject. According to the Press, in the early 2000s, celebrity-chef restaurants came to town and by 2006, Borgata had several. By the time Revel opened in 2012, every casino had multiple big-name-chef restaurants. However, this month, they were mostly gone, replaced by the casinos’ brands. Chef restaurants come at a price, after all. Jane Bokunewicz, faculty director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton University in Atlantic City, has some thoughts on the subject.
“If we are seeing the trend of celebrity chef-themed restaurants waning, it may be because some Atlantic City casinos feel they no longer need the ‘boost’ of other brands to win over customers and are forgoing the costs associated with such partnerships,” Bokunewicz says. Caesars disagrees and says it is doubling down on the concept. Whatever the case, the trend might have peaked.
Gaming revenue is growing month after month, but in most jurisdictions, it is driven by new products, as is the case in Illinois with more casinos and VLTs and in other states, mobile sports wagering and igaming. New Jersey just reported gaming revenue for August; GGR was $642.2 million; casino revenue was $311.9 million, up 2.8% and the best single month since 2012. Sports revenue was $81.9 million, up 30.6%, and igaming gross gaming revenue was $248.4 million, up 25.2%. Casino revenue was up, but barely, while sports and igaming are going like weeds in a vacant lot.
New Jersey shows no indication of recession, but there certainly are signs of changing tastes — in restaurants and in gambling. Most play is no longer in a building on the Boardwalk. Operating a casino is like any business, dependent on delivering what its customers want. If the customer wants changes, the casino must make changes; in Atlantic City and Las Vegas; price and preference are in flux. I don’t know if casino-customer preferences are changing significantly. However, there are indicators that change is in the wind.
Then again, it might just be the advance guard of a recession.
