Despite possible financial difficulties, Las Vegas casino operators are not experiencing a downturn in business in Nevada. The Silver State has once more reported over $1 billion in gaming revenue.
Likewise, Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas has also set a new monthly record for passenger numbers. Concurrently, hotel room prices persist in their upward trend.
February Nevada gaming revenue up considerably
The Nevada Gaming Control Board’s monthly revenue report indicates that Nevada casinos earned $1.24 billion in February, reflecting an 11.15% rise from the previous year.
Also, for the 24th month in a row, gaming revenue has reached at least $1 billion. The significance of two consecutive years generating at least $1 billion in gaming revenue cannot be emphasized enough.
The increase was once again aided by substantial growth in Las Vegas. The casinos on the Vegas Strip alone contributed over $1 billion.
In February, the Vegas Strip casino saw an 18.92% increase in gaming revenue from the same period last year, amounting to $1.08 billion.
According to the same NGCB report, there was a 7.49% increase in gaming revenue in downtown Las Vegas. An unexpected 8.77% revenue increase in North Las Vegas was highlighted in the monthly revenue report.
Interestingly, new neighborhood casinos opened in both sections of Las Vegas in February. It would be intriguing to see whether Wildfire on Fremont and Ojos Locos Sports Cantina Y Casino will boost the gaming revenue in downtown Las Vegas and North Las Vegas respectively in the future.
The rise in gaming revenue in Southern Nevada has compensated for the decline in the northern region. In February, there was an 8.08% decrease in gaming revenue in Washoe County, which encompasses casinos in Reno and Lake Tahoe.
The only growth in Washoe county was exhibited by Sparks, partly due to the opening of Legends Bay Casino the previous summer.
Visitation to Las Vegas continues to grow
The number of visitors to Las Vegas has been progressively rising since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although there has been a significant increase in visitation compared to last year, it’s still slightly lower than the numbers recorded in 2019, prior to the pandemic.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s monthly report states that Las Vegas saw 3.08 million visitors in February. This represents a 17.8% increase compared to the same period in 2022, but a 3.4% decrease when compared to 2019.
The 663,400 individuals who attended conventions in Las Vegas in February have given businesses a reason to be grateful. This was a significant 51.1% increase compared to the previous year.
Business travelers during the midweek are driving up the prices of hotel rooms. In February, the average price for a hotel room was $176.64, marking an 18.1% rise from the previous year, and a substantial 35.8% increase from 2019.
Visitors aren’t deterred by the high prices. In February, 82% of all hotel rooms in Las Vegas were occupied.
Weekend hotel room occupancy in Las Vegas increased to 89.3%, thanks to leisure travelers. Surprisingly, this was only a slight rise of 1.8% from the previous year.
A self-published report stated that over four million passengers traveled through Harry Reid International Airport in February. This marked the first occurrence of such high passenger traffic in the second month of the year.
The significant rise in airport traffic is primarily due to international visitors flocking to Las Vegas for Lunar New Year celebrations. There has been a 125% surge in international passengers since February of the previous year.
Sports betting handle down, revenue up
Super Bowl betting normally boosts sports wagering revenue in Nevada during February. As the most favored game from the most beloved sport, it is typically the event that attracts the most bets throughout the year in the Silver State.
This year deviated from the norm when the Caesars and William Hill sportsbook apps crashed during the Big Game. The first reports of Super Bowl revenue were erroneous, and the earnings of Nevada sportsbooks turned out to be less than initially stated.
In February, Nevada sportsbooks had a total of $659.4 million in bets placed. This represented a 15.6% drop from the previous year when all Nevada sportsbook apps were functioning perfectly.
Sportsbooks in Nevada enjoyed greater winnings from bettors while the handle was down, totaling a profit of $43.1 million. This marked a substantial 33.5% increase compared to the earnings of Nevada sportsbooks from the previous year.
Even with the disruption of two apps on Super Bowl Sunday, mobile devices were used for 61% of all sports bets in Nevada. This is slightly lower compared to January, when 62% of sports bets were made via mobile devices.
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