Why is Northern Nevada tourism flying excessive whereas the Strip plods alongside?

There are roughly 20,000 resort and motel rooms in Reno and Sparks, principally equal to the entire housed by the resorts surrounding the intersection of the Strip and Flamingo Road. However, the Northern Nevada markets are having a significantly better begin to 2026 than their southern counterparts.

Northern Nevada’s gaming and tourism markets have flourished since final fall, particularly as space casinos saved their costs down for customers and a gentle winter allowed the primary route from Northern California to stay open.

“I think a lot is coming together at the right time,” stated Reno Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority CEO Mike Larragueta. He added that rising client prices have not floated into Northern Nevada casinos, which have held agency on their prices.

“It really hasn’t gotten to the point where the customer feels like we’re overpricing the market,” he stated. “That’s worked to our advantage.”

While the Strip has struggled a lot of the previous 13 months, gaming income has elevated greater than 5 p.c in January and February in Reno. The Sparks gaming market is up greater than 9 p.c.

Granted, Washoe County’s $1.1 billion in 2025 gaming income is just some cash within the slot machine hopper in contrast with the $13.7 billion produced by Clark County casinos — 87 p.c of the state’s general complete. 

But it was a greater than 3 p.c enhance from a yr earlier, and Washoe general is up 5.6 p.c within the first two months of 2026. The outcomes are a way of pleasure for Northern Nevada gaming and tourism leaders.

Stephen Ascuaga, company director of enterprise improvement for Peppermill Hotel & Casino, stated the delicate winter helped maintain Interstate 80 — the primary connection between the Reno gaming market and Northern California prospects — open with few disruptions.

Ascuaga, who has been a part of the Northern Nevada gaming group a lot of his life, stated world occasions do not play into Reno as they might in Las Vegas.

“We’re obviously a more regional market. We don’t face the headwinds of international travel and that kind of thing,” Ascuaga stated, alluding to the 15 p.c decline over the previous two months in worldwide air vacationers at Harry Reid International Airport.

“We’ve become more diversified over time, and I think that’s starting to finally show up in our performance. It’s been very positive,” Ascuaga stated.

Strip gaming income was up lower than 1 p.c in February, following an 11 p.c decline in January. The Las Vegas outcomes have been considered considerably positively, provided that visitation was up for the primary time in 13 months.  

Northern Nevada’s gaming outcomes, nevertheless, have raised eyebrows nationally.

“We think the gaming revenue growth this year reflects strong population growth dynamics for the market as well as sizable capital investments,” Truist Securities gaming analyst Barry Jonas stated in an interview, discussing resort renovations by Atlantis Casino & Resort proprietor Monarch Resorts and Caesars Entertainment, which operates the Eldorado, Silver Legacy and Circus Circus.

Every aspect of Northern Nevada is enjoying its half. 

The Reno-Tahoe International Airport had its busiest yr since 2008, serving 4.9 million passengers in 2025. Passenger quantity is up nearly 2 p.c by means of February, and the airport is 2 years right into a 10-year, $1 billion growth challenge.

“The airport picked up a few new routes, so that’s been a benefit,” Larragueta stated.

Through February, South Lake Tahoe gaming income is up 6.4 p.c over the identical two months of 2025. The market noticed a 1.5 p.c gaming income enhance in all of final yr in contrast with 2024. South Tahoe is benefiting from the renovation of two properties — Harvey’s being changed with Caesars Republic and Hard Rock Lake Tahoe’s transition into the Golden Nugget.

In Sparks, the funding by Colorado-based Century Casinos within the Nugget Casino Resort is starting to point out a rise in enterprise, three years after the corporate acquired the practically 1,400-room property.

Washoe County visitation general was up 9.5 p.c in 2025, in keeping with figures offered by the conference middle. 

Larragueta stated the Reno Sparks Convention Center is doing its half.

The American Bus Association held its 10-day annual convention in Reno throughout January, the primary time the group got here out West in three many years. Not solely did the group’s attendees make the most of 8,000 resort rooms, however it additionally piqued the group’s curiosity within the West. 

“It exposed the entire region to tour operators, and we’re anticipating a 20 to 30 percent lift in tours in our area by hosting the conference,” Larragueta stated. 

Also, the conference middle spent $5.2 million to buy indoor observe and area gear that was arrange and used to host 12 meets for collegiate convention championships between December and February in one of many massive assembly halls. The gear was saved away for subsequent season.

“Two tournaments alone consisted of 26 collegiate teams here over one weekend,” Larragueta stated. “We’ll do about 25,000 room nights this year just through indoor track.”

Cadence Crossing opens in Henderson, changing getting old Joker’s Wild on line casino

Henderson is now not the dusty little city it was when Boyd Gaming planted its roots there greater than 60 years in the past. The inhabitants progress and gaming growth are causes Boyd determined to interchange its getting old Joker’s Wild Casino with Cadence Crossing.

Joker’s Wild, which is adjoining to Cadence, was closed and is within the technique of being demolished.

The 10,000-square-foot on line casino opened final week with 450 slot machines, two eating choices, a middle bar and a lounge. The property doesn’t have a resort. 

Cadence sits on 13 acres close to the Boulder Highway, 6 miles south of Boyd’s Sam’s Town Hotel & Gambling Hall. The property is ripe for future growth, provided that as many as 10,000 single-family properties are beneath improvement close to the on line casino. 

“That would be the plan,” stated Boyd Gaming Executive Chairwoman Marianne Boyd Johnson, the granddaughter of Sam Boyd and daughter of Bill Boyd, the corporate’s founders. “We’ll see how things go. We can add to Cadence later.”

The Henderson/Boulder market fell simply in need of $1 billion in gaming income in 2025.

Cadence General Manager Michael Williams, who oversaw Joker’s Wild, stated workers and longtime prospects have been nervous in regards to the change till they noticed renderings and on line casino plans.

“Once we broke ground and started building, they really got into it,” Williams stated, including that Joker’s Wild workers got jobs at Cadence and introduced over throughout the building course of to assist familiarize them with the constructing.

“There has been a lot of interest from customers because they could see it going up next door,” Williams stated.

The new restaurant, Tin Lizard Bar & Grill, is a model utilized in different Boyd Gaming properties. The firm has 28 casinos in 11 states and operates a tribal on line casino in Northern California.

What I’m studying

🍁 Canada sees ‘growing interest’ in prediction markets, but no elections or sports allowed — Geoff Zochodne, Covers

Canada is permitting restricted prediction markets by means of permitted corporations, focusing solely on financial, environmental and monetary indicators.

💸 Downtown Las Vegas casino owners default on $90M loan, property in receivership — David Danzis, Las Vegas Review-Journal

The Gaming Control Board stated it “is aware of the situation at Downtown Grand, and we are monitoring it closely.”

✈️ JetBlue eyes merger with United, Alaska, or Southwest — Matthew Klint, Live and Let’s Fly

JetBlue operates roughly 100 weekly nonstop flights to 5 locations from Harry Reid International Airport.

News, notes and quotes

🙏 Krolicki recollects Sue Wagner as a ‘champion’

Nevada Gaming Commission member Brian Krolicki was intertwined in some ways with Sue Wagner, who died March 17 at age 86. They have been passengers on the small airplane that crashed outdoors of Fallon in 1990. Both served as Nevada’s lieutenant governor and on the gaming fee. “The accident and the injury she suffered really impaired her public service for the rest of her days, and I really believe she would have been governor,” Krolicki stated on the outset of final week’s fee assembly. Wagner served 12 years on the fee. “We talk about the empowerment of women and leadership, and the fierceness of policy and faith and doing what’s right and what’s ethical. She was that champion.”

🤑 Resorts World Las Vegas scraps its cashless gaming system

During this licensing listening to final week, Resorts World Las Vegas President Carlos Castro instructed the Nevada Gaming Commission the property’s cashless gaming system was being mothballed for lack of use. When it opened in June 2021, the $4.3 billion Resorts World grew to become the primary on line casino in Nevada to permit gamblers to buy chips at a gaming desk by way of a digital pockets, as a part of a multitiered expertise launch. He stated the system could be phased out and reevaluated at a later date. Castro was named president final spring after becoming a member of Resorts World in February 2025.