Nevada's gaming win sees first decline in eight months to $1.29B in March

Nevada's gaming win for March saw a decline of 1.7% statewide, 1.6% in Clark County, and 1.2% in the Las Vegas Strip, marking the first revenue drops in eight months. The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported that the state's 444 major casinos collectively earned $1.29 billion during the month, while the 220 casinos in Clark County won $1.132 billion, and the Strip's 61 locations, $715.9 million.

Despite the revenue decrease, totals for three-quarters of the fiscal year and the first quarter of the calendar year 2024 are all ahead of previous-year levels. Clark County and the Strip also had slight declines in January. 

Of the 20 submarkets monitored by the Control Board, 12 showed declines in March with downtown Las Vegas having the largest, down 12.9% to $76.2 million. The best performers in the state were Wendover and outlying Washoe County, both up 7%.

Despite March Madness wagering dominating sports betting that month, Nevada sportsbooks won $29.8 million, off 32.1% from a year earlier. The Control Board said players were luckier with their bets with the casino hold percentage at 3.79% compared with 5.28% last year. Bettors also wagered 5.5% less than they did a year ago, $784.4 million, and the amount bet through mobile wagering was down 4.6% to $507 million.

According to local news, this could be because while the March calendar was filled with popular events, it may not have been as robust as in March 2023 when Taylor Swift had two performances at Allegiant Stadium, the massive ConExpo-Con/Ag construction equipment trade show was in town, and the NCAA basketball tournament had regional matchups at T-Mobile Arena.

Michael Lawton, the Control Board’s senior economic analyst, said March may have been disappointing to some but the month was being compared with an all-time record slot machine revenue total collected in March 2023, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Baccarat play was one of the few bright spots for the casinos since they were luckier than players. Casinos won $114.7 million, a 75.5% increase over last year in this segment, thanks to a hold percentage of 18.81% this year compared with 10.33% last year.