Nevada gaming revenue slips as Las Vegas visitation plunges in March

Nevada casinos posted their weakest March revenue in four years as a sharp drop in visitor numbers to Las Vegas weighed on gaming performance, particularly on the Strip, according to data released Tuesday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Casinos statewide won $1.27 billion in March, down 1.11% from a year earlier and marking the lowest total for the month since 2021, when pandemic-related restrictions still impacted tourism. The Las Vegas Strip, which accounts for more than half of Nevada’s gaming revenue, reported a 4.78% drop to $681.67 million.

High-end baccarat play on the Strip fell sharply, with a 34.27% year-over-year decline to just over $73 million. Nevada won a record $1.46 billion in December, but concerns about the economy have emerged in the months since, the Nevada Gaming Control Board said in its monthly report.

For the fiscal year to date, spanning July 2024 to June 2025, Nevada's gaming revenue is 1.14% behind last year’s pace. Despite the slowdown, March marked the 49th consecutive month that gaming win topped $1 billion.

The downturn coincided with a steep decline in tourism. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) reported 3.39 million visitors to Southern Nevada in March, a 7.8% drop from March 2024.

Visitation to Southern Nevada dropped 7.8% in March compared to the same time last year, marking one of the steepest year-over-year declines since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the LVCVA. 

LVCVA Research Center Director Kevin Bagger noted that the back-to-back declines in February and March were the worst since the pandemic. However, he highlighted a bright spot in convention traffic: “The destination hosted roughly 534,000 attendees for the month. It reflected, in part, the calendar impact of the in-rotation of the Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society conference with 48,000 attendees.”

Hotel occupancy slipped 2.4 percentage points to 82.9%, and passenger traffic at Harry Reid International Airport declined 3.9% year over year. Average daily room rates in March rose 3.1% to $183.86, although they remained down 8.1% for the first quarter overall.

Passenger counts on Canadian air carriers also dropped, with WestJet down 14.5%, Flair down 62.2%, and Air Canada down 5.9%. New entrant Porter Airlines saw a 233.8% increase from its inaugural year.

Some regional markets outperformed. Downtown Las Vegas posted an 11.59% gain to $85 million, while the Boulder Strip was up 10.23% at $78.3 million. Reno also saw double-digit growth, rising 10.9% to $57.7 million. Meanwhile, outlying Clark County, which includes the new Durango resort, declined 2.4% to $162.9 million.

Gaming analyst Carlo Santarelli attributed the Strip’s weakness to an unfavorable calendar, which included an extra Monday this year instead of an extra Friday in 2024 and a shortfall in baccarat revenue.

Las Vegas continued to host a full slate of sports and entertainment events throughout the month, including residency shows by the Eagles, Garth Brooks, Maroon 5, and Carrie Underwood. UFC 313 and major league boxing events drew fight fans, while NASCAR and Major League Baseball’s Big League Weekend added to the lineup.