The lack of a Super Bowl cut deeply into Las Vegas and Nevada’s visitation, falling nearly 12% in February year over year. That led to a 9.2% statewide decline in revenue and a whopping 13.8% decline for the Strip.
The Strip reported $690.3 million in gaming revenue, down from $800.6 million in February 2024. It wasn’t as bad away from the Strip. Downtown Las Vegas also felt the drop off but fell only 4.9% to $72.4 million. North Las Vegas fell 2.7% while the Boulder Strip fell 1.3%. The balance of Clark County outside of Mesquite and Laughlin rose 1%, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
Statewide, Nevada casinos brought in $1.21 billion in revenue in February, down from $1.34 billion. For the state’s fiscal year that starts on July 1, gaming win is down 1.14%.
Mesquite saw gaming revenue increase 2.8%, while Laughlin rose .4%.
In northern Nevada, which attracts a crowd from San Francisco that favored Kansas City in the Super Bowl, Reno saw a 6.4% decline, Sparks, 2.7%, and North Lake Tahoe, 9.34%. South Lake Tahoe had a 17.4% decrease.
Elko County in northern rural Nevada saw a 7.31% decrease.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported 2.97 million visitors in February, down 11.9% from 3.37 million in February 2024.
“With the combined factors of a tough comparison to last year when Super Bowl LVIII was held in the destination, a net decrease in the convention segment tied to rotation cycles, and one fewer day on the calendar compared to the 2024 leap year, visitation fell,” according Kevin Bagger, vice president of the research center.
Convention attendance of 615,400 was down 19.5% from 764,800 in February 2024, “reflecting in part the calendar impact of World Market Center’s Winter show (38,000 attendees) and the Total Product Expo (8,000 attendees) ending in January this year versus February last year, plus show rotations of the International Roofing Expo (15,000 attendees) and National Automobile Dealers Association (22,000 attendees), which were held elsewhere this year,” Bagger said.
Occupancy reached 80.5%, down 3.4 points, with weekend occupancy of 86.4% down 3.9 points and midweek occupancy of 77.7% down 3.3 points, Bagger said. The Strip had an 83.5% occupancy, down from 86.6% a year ago.
The average daily room rate of $186 was down 25% from February 2024 when it was $248. It was $199 on the Strip, down from $269 a year ago. Revenue per available room of $150, down 28% year over year from $208.
Airport passenger counts were down 7.5% in February, while traffic counts at the I-15 border with California were even with last year.
