Nevada’s gaming industry has been on an incredible hot streak for the last couple of years. Money has been pouring into Silver State casinos at such as incredible pace that July’s take of $1.25 billion is not only considered a mild disappointment, it’s also a harbinger of potentially lean times ahead.
The good news in July’s numbers is the fact that Nevada casinos have clocked 28 straight months of collecting $1 billion or more in revenue. That streak looks to continue, even if revenue is down a bit month-to-month as it was last month. June’s numbers were down 3.1 percent from May’s $1.29 billion and down 2.3 percent from June 2022’s $1.28 billion take. Clark County, home of Las Vegas, was down 3.5 percent from the previous month with a still impressive take of $1.07 billion.
One of the biggest challenges facing Nevada casinos is simply maintaining the breakneck speed they’ve been going at for the past two years. But the state’s casinos are not letting up in any way. Las Vegas was packed with special events that drew in huge crowds all month including concerts by Adele and James Taylor; the World Series of Poker; and a successful Stanley Cup run by the Las Vegas Golden Knights hockey team.
Michael Lawton, senior economic analyst for the Nevada Gaming Control Board, explained the challenge of keeping a record pace month-in-month-out to the Las Vegas Review-Journal saying, “The state has now recorded decreases in three of the last four months. However, Nevada continued to record gaming win amounts in excess of pre-pandemic levels this month. Statewide total win was 19.7 percent or $204.9 million over June 2019. This month also represented the 28th consecutive month that the state has recorded $1 billion in monthly gaming win.”
Though its gaming revenue may ebb and flow slightly from month-to-month, Nevada’s casinos and bookmakers remain on a historic run that isn’t likely to substantially slow anytime soon.