While the gaming industry in Nevada hit new single-month revenue records in December 2024, Vegas Strip casinos declined, with Vegas Strip revenue falling 2.7% to $881.2 million from the $905.3 million record it set in December 2023.
The main area of revenue decline was for table games, with numbers falling 16% to $385.9 million from December 2023. While slot machines on the Strip set new revenue records, reaching $495.4 million, an 11.1% increase, they failed to offset the decline from table games, indicating an overall year-on-year deficit for the Vegas Strip.
While Vegas Strip revenue declined for December, gains from other locations successfully offset the Strip’s deficit, leading to an overall record-breaking year for the Nevada gaming industry. Some of the biggest gainers for the month included Downtown Vegas, Clark County, and Washoe County, all collectively mitigating the effects of the revenue decline from Strip gaming.
Overall, the Nevada gaming industry recorded a record-breaking $1.46 billion in revenue during 2024, a noticeable increase over the $1.43 billion recorded in 2023. Despite the generally lackluster performance of the Strip, which is typically the largest contributor to Nevada gaming revenue numbers, Nevada is still managing to hit excellent revenue numbers, thanks to impressive performances by other gaming areas in the state.
Slot machines on the Vegas Strip hit a record high of $495.4 million in revenue for December, a 2.3% increase over December 2023. However, that wasn’t enough to stop the bleeding from the 16% decline in table games recorded around the same period. This trend isn’t localized to the Strip; the same behavior is observable statewide, with slots responsible for $10.5 billion of the $15.6 billion generated from the gaming industry in Nevada for the 2024 fiscal year.
The data highlights a crucial shift in customers’ playing behavior at Nevadan casinos, proving a gradual shift from traditional casino table games to slot machines, mirroring a trend already noticeable from online casinos. With the Strip widely regarded as the gambling capital of the United States, it’s only fair to expect this pattern in more states as slot machines become increasingly popular nationwide.
The sports betting industry in Nevada remains largely inconsistent, with GGR from legal online sportsbooks recording a 75% drop for December on the back of a healthy 64% increase in November compared to 2023. In October, the sports betting market in Nevada recorded a 57.5% decline, making sports betting the most inconsistent vertical on the Vegas Strip and throughout Nevada.
Conversely, the gross gaming revenue (GGR) from the “Big Little City,” Reno, climbed to a healthy $65.8 million in December, recording a 20% increase over the preceding year. Downtown Las Vegas and the local market also recorded significant gains year-over-year, generating $82.2 million and $161.1 million respectively to collectively offset the losses recorded at the Vegas Strip, helping to keep the books green for the state of Nevada.
According to data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), the newly-reported Nevada gaming revenue figures match tourist inflow for Las Vegas, with total new visitor numbers increasing by 2.1%. Recently, the agency reported Las Vegas hosted 41.7 million visitors in 2024, a development the LVCVA Vice President of Research attributed to an increase in hotel occupancy as many resorts have reduced their room rates.
Harry Reid International Airport also reported handling a record number of passengers in December, which LVCVA data verifies. The airport set a new December record of 4.8 million passengers, the eighth time last year it hit a similar record, with October being the second busiest month in the airport’s history.
