The CEO of MGM Resorts International told applauding business leaders Friday that the national narrative about the Las Vegas’ dim future is wrong, because no other city has the same entertainment and package offerings.
Bill Hornbuckle, who appeared with Boyd Gaming CEO Keith Smith in a panel discussion at a Vegas Chamber conference at Wynn Las Vegas on Friday, said 2023 and 2024 were record years for the casino industry in Las Vegas and that the slowdown in 2025 should be judged against those.
The same thing happened in 2006 and 2007 before the Great Recession in 2008 led to a downturn in the gaming industry, Hornbuckle said. Las Vegas visitation was down 7.5% in 2025 and occupancy stood at 80.6%, down from 80.3% in 2024. Strip occupancy at 83.2% was down 3.2%.
“The reality is occupancy is down 3% and visitation is down,” Hornbuckle said. “Over the next 14 to 15 months, we will have more conventions on the books and in our city than in history. We are as solid as a rock. The city’s gaming revenue on the Strip is flat off an amazing year, yet I read headlines that Las Vegas is dead. Stop. I made comments in the last quarterly call about value, pricing, and water, and you’d have thought I was giving up a baby.”
Hornbuckle said two of their budget offerings on the Strip, Excalibur and Luxor, are 6% of their company’s earnings in Las Vegas and 4% of MGM overall. He said the price-gouging narrative is over the top.
“We are a well-balanced company and a well-balanced city, and we will get through this,” Hornbuckle said. “It used to be what happened in Las Vegas stayed in Vegas. How about you can only do it in Las Vegas? We’re the entertainment center. Value doesn’t mean to be cheap. We have evolved to the point where value isn’t about cheap, but about experience in what you get.”
Hornbuckle cited Shadow Creek Golf Course. During the last two years, greens have gone from $500 to $1,250, the most expensive round of golf in the U.S. “Do you think we’ve slowed down one bit? Zero,” Hornbuckle said. “Every tee time up for public sale like it was for $500 has sold out. Is it expensive? It’s outrageously expensive. People want the experience.”
Hornbuckle said the Sphere and events like the Super Bowl and FI get people off their couches and onto an airplane, even though there are casinos everywhere, including online. In the end, people will always want to come to casinos. That, along with scale, is Las Vegas’ strength.
“People come to Las Vegas to see Lady Gaga or world-class restaurants,” Hornbuckle said. “They can’t get them in most places. They certainly can’t get the energy and excitement. The sense of value isn’t always about cost. Yes, we have to align properly and yes, we as a collective got some things wrong. But at the end of the day, we’re down 3%. There’s nothing like Las Vegas and there never will be.”
Steve Hill, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, told the two CEOs that no city will rebound from a downturn in tourism faster than Las Vegas.
Smith said he has tremendous confidence in Las Vegas. The industry will continue to evolve and be successful along with the community as a whole.
“There’s no question that visitation to Las Vegas is down and it’s not anything we haven’t seen before,” Smith said. “We tend to make more out of it than it is. Is it concerning? Sure. But this has happened to us before and it’s not the end of the world. It will come back. There is a core demand for Las Vegas. People are still spending money, and Las Vegas will continue to rebound over the course of time. I’m confident in the long-term future This is just a dip. We’ll get through it and to the other side.”
Smith said the industry just needs to focus on what it does best: provide great customer service.
“People come here to escape and get entertained,” Smith said. “They can also do that close to home, but we have the best customer service in the country. I travel around a lot and get frustrated by customer service in other parts of the country. We do it so well here and that’s why people continue to come back. We operate a lot of locals’ properties here in Las Vegas where we see customers a couple of times a week and not a couple of times a year. We always have to be on our game for customer service.”
“We’re always going to be in the people-serving business,” Hornbuckle said. “People ask me about robots and AI and we’re going to deploy some of that. (But) we’re in the service business. People want personalization and to know you’re in front of them. They want to talk to people. Hopefully, that never changes.”
As for the notion that Millennials don’t gamble, Hornbuckle said the pandemic helped change that trend and as that group has gotten older with more money, they’re playing more. The gaming product, meanwhile, needs to change, with the digital business transferring into casinos and vice versa. “Digital gives us the opportunity to have a 360-degree experience. There’re ways to bring people into that and make it meaningful.”
Smith, like Hornbuckle, pointed out transportation issues Las Vegas needs to resolve to help people get around and deal with an airport at capacity.
“We need to find ways over the next decade not only to improve what we have, but to take the friction out of the business,” Smith said. “Getting around town, whether it’s F1 or large conventions, (has an impact). That will turn customers off; if they get frustrated, they won’t come back. We have to make it a little easier.”
Hornbuckle said they continue to reinvest hundreds of millions of dollars a year on the Strip and that won’t stop, even though they’re focusing on their casino project under construction in Japan and other things. He admitted the responsibility to the city and its future keeps him up at night.
“This is our home and our core and we’ll continue to reinvest in it for jobs and to make the experience what it wants to be and then some,” Hornbuckle said. “We have the greatest destination in the world. I truly believe that and nobody does it better at scale. Full stop. For us to invest in it and understand the responsibility motivates us and our team every day. I’m excited for that, but it’s daunting.”
