October gambling revenue figures released today (4 December) by the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) showed that the state brought in $1.28 billion (£1 billion/€1.2 billion) in gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the month, a year-over-year decline of just over 2%.
Figures for the Las Vegas Strip were the highlight of the report, but not for good reasons. The Strip’s October GGR total of $692 million was a 3% drop year-over-year. That’s the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year declines for America’s gaming capital, which had its best year ever in 2023. For the fiscal year-to-date, the Strip is down more than 6%.
Strip slot revenue ($428.3 million) was up 5.5%, but table games (-14.5%) were tricky again in October. Baccarat revenue, which has become a boom-or-bust category that spurred records last year, plummeted 23.4% to $68.7 million. The Strip is down 33% on the game in the last three months.
Downtown Las Vegas had the worst month of all the southern Nevada markets. Its GGR of $86.8 million was an 11% slide from last year, although the market is still up 4% so far this fiscal year. Other nearby markets with declines included North Las Vegas (-3.7%), Laughlin (-6.8%) and the Boulder Strip (-2.6%).
As those segments lag behind last year – all but downtown are negative fiscal year-to-date – the Las Vegas locals market continues to shine. Its October GGR was $164.5 million, a 10% jump year-over-year. That segment is up 11.5% year-to-date, easily the best in the state.
As with Las Vegas, northern markets continue to lag
If the southern half was a mixed bag, the northern markets did not fare much better in October. With the exception of South Lake Tahoe, whose GGR of $20.8 million was good for the biggest increase of any market tracked by the NGCB (+18.7%), all other northern regions were down year-over-year.
All of Washoe County reported decreases, most notably a 3% decline in Reno ($68.1 million). Despite this, the market is still flat year-to-date. The Carson Valley is also more or less flat, both for the month (+1.8%) and for the fiscal year-to-date (+1.1%).
To the northeast, Elko County reported GGR of $31.7 million, good for a year-over-year decrease of 6.4%.
October tough for Nevada sports betting
If the plethora of GGR decreases was not enough, state sports betting also saw steep drops. Statewide sports betting GGR was $28.9 million, down 57.5% from last year. GGR from mobile betting was $18.7 million, down 46.4% year-over-year.
The Las Vegas Strip posted $13.3 million in sports betting GGR, down 50% from a year ago. Its mobile GGR of $6.2 million was also a decline of more than 40%. For both Las Vegas and the state as a whole, football betting was disastrous.
The state posted $9.6 million in GGR from football betting, down nearly 80% year-over-year, with similar results ($4.5 million, -76.8%) for the Strip. Poor October NFL results were bemoaned in operators’ Q3 calls around the industry.
