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Nevada Gaming Win Dips for the First Time in 8 Months to $1.29B in March
By Jeff Osienya Apr 24, 2024 IndustryThe Silver State’s 8-month winning streak of year-on-year revenue climbs was broken in March 2024 following a 1.65% slide. Here’s a closer look at the numbers and what might have led to the slight downturn despite a robust overall performance.The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) has just revealed its gaming revenue numbers for March, which posted a year-over-year decline for the first time in eight months. The data showed that at $1.92 billion, Nevada Casinos last month recorded a 1.65% dip from March 2023, which was unexpected given the recent surge in performance over the past half a year or so.
While this is an unprecedented first for the Silver State, the performance is still monumental. More specifically, April’s numbers revealed that the Las Vegas Strip, the state’s most highlighted gambling block, registered $715.8 million in revenue, a 1.2% drop from the $724.6 million figure reported in March 2023. That said, the Vegas Strip has cumulatively done better so far, as compared to the same period last year, bettering its revenue records by 2.5%.
On the other hand, local Nevada casinos registered a 0.4% increase in their proceeds, which stood at $269.7 million in March 2023 and now at $270.9 million in March 2024. So far, the local casinos have also shown improvement across the first three months of the year compared to the first three months of last year, registering a 2.4% uptick in that regard.
Downtown Vegas and the Boulder Strip Take Substantive Hits
Regarding the most significant drops, casinos in downtown Vegas and the Boulder Strip registered the sharpest declines. Downtown Vegas, for instance, saw $87.4 million in profits for March 2023, while in March 2024, this figure fell 12.8% to $76.1 million.
The outlook of downtown Vegas from its annual perspective also doesn’t look too good, and this part of Vegas is already down 3.4% from last year’s figures in the same month. The boulder strip, on the other hand, registered a 9.2% decline from March 2023’s stats to collect $78.3 million worth of profit. In stark contrast, its March 2023 figures stood at $86.3 million.
Other notable dips included North Las Vegas’ 4.1% slip, which landed its proceeds at $25.7 million. Additionally, the prospects for these jurisdictions in April are not as hopeful either. According to what industry observers are saying, there are doubts that they could make a comeback with the expectation that the gaming volumes will continue to drop in the foreseeable future.
Overall, of the 20 Nevada submarkets, 12 registered dips from their March 2023 numbers. Apart from the most significant dips, notable submarkets saw remarkable improvements. For instance, Wendover and outlying Washoe County caught the eyes of many with substantial 7% increases from last year.
March Madness Not Enough to Spur Significant Numbers for Sportsbooks
With March Madness being the highlight of last month’s sporting calendar, the expectation beforehand was that the wagers would pick up. However, that wasn’t the case. Nevada sportsbooks won $29.8 million, a decent performance, but pales compared to last year’s yield by a shocking 32.1%.
Players were, however, luckier with their wagering activities in the state. This was reflected in the casino hold percentage, which stood at 3.79% this year compared to last year’s 5.28%. Bettors also notably spent 5.5% less than what they wagered in March 2023.
Moreover, according to our boots on the ground, the dip in wagering stats can be attributed to 2024’s events not being as robust as 2023’s event calendar. For instance, Taylor Swift performed twice at the Allegiant Stadium last year. NCAA basketball also had regional matchups at the T-Mobile arena, which drew substantive crowds.
Travel Numbers Continue to Soar in the Sagebrush State
Travel, an essential metric for Nevada, continued to shine, as the numbers were stellar. Most notably, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LCVA) announced a 0.4% increase in visits year-on-year. The authority indicated that in March 2024, 3.67 million travelers came to the Strip, a slight climb from the 3.65 million visitors reported in March 2023.
According to the LCVA, the growth in visitor volume isn’t surprising, considering the plethora of activities and events that the Strip has hosted over the past month. Alongside March Madness, representing the pinnacle of college football in the U.S., Nevada has also hosted several basketball and NASCAR tournaments.
Curiously, there was a 37% year-on-year dip in convention attendance, which stood at 484,000 in March 2024. The delineation for this colossal drop might be attributed to the fact that March 2023’s convention attendance number of 771,000 is a record-breaking stat that will take something quite extraordinary to beat. Be that as it may, the overall year convention attendance figure, compared to 2023’s figure for the same month, hasn’t taken that much of a beating. Instead, convention attendance is only down 7.2% for the year.
Hotel occupancy has also slipped 3% from last year’s 88.3% rate in March 2023. This has, in turn, translated to declines in the average daily rate and revenue available per room, failing to scale the impressive heights that these two metrics had set in 2023. Additionally, the Strip’s occupancy levels declined from 90.5% in March 2023 to 88.3% in the same period in 2024. Furthermore, downtown Vegas’ occupancy also fell to 69.3% from last year’s 76.4%.
Quarterly Outlook Still Positive
Despite the dips from a year-on-year monthly perspective, the quarterly results still maintain a positive outlook. The first quarter of 2024 brought in $3.9 billion worth of revenue, a 2.35% increase over Q1 2023.
The slight increase has been fueled by table games, which have collected $1.32 billion in proceeds so far, up 6% from Q1 2023. Slot machines have also garnered a marginal uptick of 0.4% to $2.58 billion. Time will tell whether Nevada will maintain the same positive trajectory as we enter the second quarter.
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