Nevada Casinos Streak Has Sixth Consecutive Month Clearing $1B

Posted on: September 30, 2021, 10:42h. 

Last updated on: September 30, 2021, 11:26h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Nevada casinos have won more than $6 billion from gamblers in the past six months. August marked the state’s sixth consecutive month reporting gross gaming revenue (GGR) of at least $1 billion.

Nevada casinos Las Vegas gaming revenue GGR
The Strip sidewalks are once again busy. Las Vegas and the entire gaming industry in Nevada fared well in August, casino win totaling more than $1 billion for the sixth month in a row. (Image: Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Revenue from gamblers last month totaled $1.165 billion. That’s 57 percent better than August 2020, when the Nevada gaming industry was still dealing with a myriad of operating restrictions because of COVID-19.

Clark County, home to downtown Las Vegas and the Strip, reported GGR of $993.4 million, a more than 67 percent year-over-year gain. Strip casinos kept $625.7 million of gamblers’ bets, which was almost double the amount they won in August 2020.

August’s haul followed a record-setting July, where Nevada casinos won $1.35 billion. That is the all-time highest monthly gaming revenue number in the state’s 90-history of legal gambling.

Nevada continued to record gaming win amounts in excess of pre-pandemic levels in August, with $1.2 billion in win. This was up 22.3 perfect over 2019,” detailed Michael Lawton, senior research analyst at the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

“Strong demand across markets, federal stimulus, the continued rebound of leisure travel, and the return of special events and entertainment continued to propel gaming win past 2019 levels,” Lawton added.

Call It a Comeback

August capped off the unofficial end of summer. And following a year where travel was either banned or strongly discouraged, a popular release for pent-up demand among Americans was visiting Las Vegas.

The summer met and exceeded many expectations. Domestic travel to Southern Nevada continues to improve towards reaching pre-pandemic levels, and casino resorts reported strong bookings throughout the summer.

The past six months have certainly been good for Las Vegas. In December, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau said visitor volume remained down 64 percent from December 2019. Fast-forward to July, and visitor traffic was down only 10 percent from the same month in 2019. Hotel occupancy has improved nearly 42 percent during that time frame, too. The LVCVA hasn’t yet revealed August visitor volume.

More people are also arriving in Southern Nevada by way of air than they were just six months ago. McCarran International reports that Las Vegas’ main air hub served 3.8 million passengers last month, which is down 14.1 percent from August 2019. But it is more than double the 1.7 million passengers that the airport served in August of 2020.

Vegas Streaking

Lawton said in his August revenue commentary that Nevada’s six-month run of casinos winning upwards of $1 billion is the second-longest streak in state history. He explains that the record is eight months, which was set between October of 2006 through May of 2007.

Nevada casinos through eight months of 2021 are now 7.8 percent ahead of where they were at this time in 2019. That year, Nevada GGR eclipsed $12 billion in casino revenue. The state has only passed the $12 billion mark three times — the others coming in 2006 ($12.62 billion) and 2007 ($12.84 billion).

Nevada’s GGR of $7.8 billion in 2020 was the state’s lowest yearly win since 1997.