The Las Vegas Strip continued its downward trend to end the first quarter with gaming revenue down 4.8% in March amid a nearly 8% decline in visitation. Locals and downtown casinos fared much better.
The strength in those latter two segments and elsewhere in the Nevada offset the decline on the Strip. Statewide gaming revenue was $1.27 billion, down 1.1% compared to $1.3 billion in March 2024. For the year, statewide gaming revenue is down 1.1%, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
The Strip recorded $681.6 million, down from $715.8 million, despite slot revenue of $400 million, up 8.8%. Baccarat contributed to the Strip decline, down 34.3% year over year to $72.8 million. The win percentage was 13.7%.
The Las Vegas Strip’s games win of $262 million decreased 16.7% or $52.4 million; drop totaled $2.1 billion and increased 1% or $10.8 million. The Strip’s slot win totaled $419.6 million and increased 4.5% or $18.2 million with a 1.1% or $54.8 million increase to coin-in. Slot win percentage was 8% versus 7.7% last year.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said Las Vegas hosted 3.38 milion visitors in March, down from 3.67 million in March 2024. Visitation is down about 725,000 or 6.9% for the year. Vehicle traffic from southern California fell 3.1% in March, while air passenger travel fell 3.9%.
“With a slightly less‐packed event calendar and as‐yet unclear impacts of evolving federal policies rippling through international and domestic markets, visitation saw a 7.8% year-over-year decline, as the destination hosted approximately 3.39 million visitors in March,” the LVCVA said in its monthly statistics release. “Rotation cycles helped convention attendance in March as the destination hosted roughly 534,000 attendees for the month, up 10.2% year-over-year (from 484,400), reflecting in part the calendar impact of the in‐rotation of the Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society conference (48,000 attendees), which was held elsewhere last year.”
Hotel occupancy reached 82.9%, down 2.4 points with weekend occupancy of 90.8% (down 1 point) and midweek occupancy of 79.7% (down 2.5 points). Strip occupancy at 85.8% was down from 88.3%. Downtown occupancy was 70%, up from 69.3%. Average daily room rates for the month reached $184 (+3.1% year over year) with revenue per room of $152 (+0.2% year-over-year).
Shelley Newell, senior economic analyst for the Gaming Control Board, said Las Vegas hosted a variety of events in March in addition to guests visiting for the March Madness college basketball tournament.
The Eagles residency at the MSG Sphere Arena continued March 7th through the 15th. Their residency has been extended into November. Garth Brooks ran March 1st through March 9th as he wrapped up his residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The National Rugby League kicked off at Allegiant Stadium Las Vegas on March 1st. Maroon 5 returned to Dolby Live inside the Park MGM from March 7th through March 22nd. T-Mobile Arena hosted the UFC 313 event, a Light Heavyweight match between Alex Pereira versus Magomed Ankalaev on March 8th. NASCAR returned to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway March 14th through March 16th. Mandalay Bay hosted a PBC Boxing event on March 22nd at the Michelob ULTRA Arena with the main event featuring the super welterweight championship bout between Sebastian Fundora and Chordale Booker. Kevin Hart returned to the stage March 1st at Resorts World and Carrie Underwood performed at Resorts World March 26th through March 29th.
Statewide table, counter, and card games’ win of $357.4 million decreased 14.1% or $58.5 million; however, games drop of $3.1 billion increased 3.1% or $91.7 million from March 2024, Newell said.
Statewide slot win of $918.8 million increased 5.1% or $44.1 million and coin-in of $12.9 billion was up $224.5 million or 1.8%.
It was a tough March Madness for sportsbooks with favorites covering. Nevada sportsbooks won $22.3 million, down 25.2% or $7.5 million compared to March 2024 on a hold percentage of 2.6% versus 3.8% last year. Sportsbook wagers still totaled $860.6 million and were up 9.7% or $76.1 million compared to last March when $784.4 million was wagered statewide. Mobile wagers totaled $612.3 million, up 20.8% or $105.3 million and accounted for 71.1% of all wagers, Newell said.
Overall, table game revenues statewide were $357.5 million in March, down 14% from March 2024. Slot revenue at $918.8 million rose 5% statewide.
Downtown Las Vegas was strong, with $85 milion in revenue, up 11.6% from $76.1 million a year ago. For the year, downtown is up 2.9%. Boyd Gaming talked about the strength of downtown during its earnings call last week, citing travel from Hawaii and other traffic along Fremont Street.
In downtown, slot win totaled $60.2 million and increased 20.7% ($10.1 million). Slot coin-in was up 6.8% ($45.1 million). Slot win percentage was 6.8% versus 7.6% last year. Game and table win totaled $24.8 million, down 5.0% ($1.3 million). Games drop increased 13.16% or $39.8 million on a hold of 7.3% versus 8.7% last year, Newell said.
Casinos that serve local residents saw a 1.8% increase in March, according to Deutsche Bank. It’s up 0.3% for the first quarter.
In March, the Boulder Strip rose 10.2% from $78.3 million to $86.3 million in March. Boulder Strip slot win was up 11.5% ($8.1 million). Slot coin-in was up 2.4% ($28.9 million). Slot hold was 6.4% versus 5.8%. Game and table win totaled $8.3 million down 0.7% ($53,800). Games volume down 0.8% ($520,000) and hold was 13.1% versus 13.10%, Newell said.
North Las Vegas recorded a 3.2% increase to $26.5 million, up from $25.7 million.
Elsewhere in southern Nevada, Laughlin had $49.9 million in revenue, up 1% from $49.4 million. Mesquite saw a 1.4% gain from $19.1 million to $19.3 million.
Reno had a 10.9% gain from $52 million a year ago to $57.6 million in March. Sparks had a 1.9% decline from $15.1 million to $14.8 million. North Lake Tahoe fell 4.9% to $1.6 million, down from $1.68 million. South Lake Tahoe fell 7.2% to $14.7 milion, down from $15.8 million.
