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Reno experienced a double-digit percentage decrease in gaming revenue in November. The Las Vegas Strip has declined for the fifth consecutive month.
Nevada’s gaming figures continued to decrease in November, with Reno recording a double-digit decline in casino earnings for the month.
The state’s gaming licensees disclosed a total gaming revenue of just below $1.32 billion in November, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. This represents a 4.2% decrease compared to November 2023.
This drop is part of a pattern observed in the latter half of 2024 in Nevada, which experienced its second consecutive month of declines in gaming revenue. Nevada’s gaming revenue also fell in four of the last five months.
What was the performance of Washoe County’s gaming revenue in November?
Washoe County’s cumulative gaming revenue fell 6% year-over-year in November to $76 million, significantly influenced by the Reno market.
While Sparks and North Lake Tahoe saw increases of 8% and just under 9%, respectively, Reno’s gaming revenue dropped by 10.45%, as reported by the gaming control board. The remainder of the county experienced a decline of less than one percent.
The Biggest Little City is still up by 0.5% overall for the 2024 calendar year, thanks to a robust performance in January and February. Reno reported a 55% surge in gaming revenue in January to $87.7 million, followed by a 10% rise in February.
However, Reno’s gaming revenue has declined in eight out of the following nine months.
Reno was also one of four regions in the state to exhibit double-digit declines in November. Another region is South Lake Tahoe, which reported a 20.3% drop in gaming revenue—second only to the Boulder Strip’s decline of 20.6%.
The gaming control board observed that part of the decline observed in Reno is attributed to timing.
“Washoe County and Reno’s slot win totals were adversely affected by slot collections timing as November 2024 ended on a Saturday, with a portion of slot drop from November being recorded in December,” stated Michael Lawton, senior economic analyst at the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
Simultaneously, Reno’s decrease in gaming has been part of a longer trend.
Ken Adams, a Reno-based analyst for CDC Gaming Reports, highlighted tribal gaming’s ongoing influence on Reno’s previously thriving casino industry.
“It’s a challenging market and they face significant competition in California,” Adams expressed. “The tribes have financial resources, and they are investing them back into their businesses.”
One factor that complicates matters for Reno is its lack of major events and celebrity concerts to rely on, unlike Las Vegas.
Lawton from the gaming control board pointed to events such as the Formula 1 Grand Prix Las Vegas, Adele’s final eight performances, the Eagles residency at the MSG Sphere, along with concerts by Billy Joel, Sting, and Usher, as key factors driving Las Vegas’s gaming and tourism industry in November.
In comparison, Reno recently lost the Reno Air Races, a long-standing event that concluded this year.
“Las Vegas has all of these attractions that enhance their business, and Reno lacks that,” Adams commented.
“Reno has Hot August Nights. It hosts the Reno Rodeo. It doesn’t have the air races anymore.”
“Hot August Nights is the only remaining event that could be considered of that scale (comparable to Las Vegas),” Adams added.
Decline in gaming revenue is part of a national phenomenon
Reno is not the sole market experiencing gaming revenue decreases.
The Las Vegas Strip reported a gaming revenue of $788.7 million in November, down 3.9%. It marks the fifth consecutive month of declining gaming revenue, according to the gaming control board.
“The last instance when the (Las Vegas) strip saw a decline for five consecutive months (before the pandemic) was from January to May 2019,” Lawton stated.
Clark County’s overall gaming revenue for November stood at $1.163 billion, a drop of 4.2% or $51.4 million year-over-year.
The downward trend is also being observed outside of Nevada.
Same-store sales have decreased across the nation due to shifting consumer behaviors, according to Adams. Essentially, customers are visiting less frequently, he noted.
“Customer counts have diminished in most jurisdictions,” Adams remarked. “Though spending has increased slightly per person, there are fewer patrons, reflecting a nationwide trend.”
Meanwhile, the post-COVID gaming surge, which significantly boosted casino profits for an extended period as customers returned in large numbers, is beginning to dissipate.
“When COVID ended … gaming experienced an extraordinary rise that no one could rationalize,” Adams noted. “However, that growth has plateaued and in many situations, it has started to decline again.”
— This story has been updated with additional details.
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