The state of Nevada has released its December report for gaming revenue for December. Total statewide revenue came to $1.43bn, up 9% from December 2022, while total revenue for the fiscal year (July 1 2023 – December 31 2023) revenue totaled $8bn, up 5.5% from the previous fiscal year.
The report is an all-time high for the state. Previous reports from this year have seen Nevada generate $1.4bn in July and $1.37bn in November – less than December despite the Las Vegas Grand Prix taking place.
Clark County
Being the home to the Las Vegas Strip and Downtown, Clark County accounted for the majority of the state's revenue, totaling $1.27bn in December. Overall, this represented growth of 9.8%.
Boulder Strip and Laughlin were the third and fourth-biggest contributors to Clark County’s revenue, contributing $67.7m and $31.5m respectively. Boulder Strip saw year-on-year growth of 6.1%, while Laughlin saw a decline, down 2.4%.
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip generated $905.4m in December, up 11.2%. Of this revenue, table, counter and card games just slightly outshone slot machines, with the sectors generating $459.3m (up 12.3%) and $466.1m (up 10.1%), respectively.
On the Strip, the table game with the largest win amount was baccarat, which saw year-on-year growth of 50.5% with earnings of $218.7m. Other table games saw a decrease in revenue, with the most substantial losses coming from pai gow, mini-baccarat and pai gow poker. These games were down 27.7%, 32.4% and 39.3%, respectively.
Slots, meanwhile, mostly showed a decline across its metrics, with only multi-denomination, $5 and other slot machines showing growth. Multi-denomination slots showed the most substantial growth, up 40.4%.
Potential contributors to this growth include Fontainebleau Las Vegas, which opened on December 14. Major strip hotels, including the Big Three (Wynn Resorts, MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment) were also able to avoid strike action that was announced in November by the Culinary Union, which may have negatively impacted revenue had it gone ahead.
Other casinos in the Downtown and Strip areas may be affected by strike action in February if resolutions with the Culinary Union are not met.
Downtown
Downtown Las Vegas made a gaming win of $77.9m. This is up 10.3%, with slot machines generating $45.7m (up 9.8%) while table, counter and card games made $30.2m (up 11.2%).
Unlimited Texas hold’em was up 160.4% compared to last year. However, sports pools were the biggest financial contributor to Downtown's table games, contributing $14m, or 46.4%, of table revenue.
Slot machine metrics, like the Strip, were also mostly down, with only multi-denomination, 5¢, 25¢ and $100 showing an increase in gaming win; $100 slots showed substantial growth from last December, up 107.5%.
Washoe County, South Lake Tahoe, Elko County and the Carson Valley Area
While Clark County contributed 88.6% of Nevada’s gaming revenue, the remaining 11.4% was generated by Washoe County, South Lake Tahoe, Elko County and the Carson Valley Area.
Wahoe generated $80.4m (down 2.9%), with $54.9m coming from Reno. South Lake Tahoe generated $16.1m (up 3%), while Elko County and the Carson Valley Area made $36.4m and $11.7m (up 13.5%), respectively. Of these areas, the biggest growth was reported from Elko County, which was up 15% from last December.
Growth may in part be attributed to the opening of Durango, which opened on the same day as Fontainebleau. We assessed the openings of these two casinos in a recent edition of Gaming America magazine.
For a look into Nevada's full-year results, click here.
