For all the negative headlines around falling tourism in Las Vegas in recent months, October revenues figures for Sin City proved it still has life in its casinos at least. October’s total casino win of nearly $750 million saw the city’s 38 casino venues soar back to growth, posting 8.2% more gambling revenue than October 2024. But what were the big changes that led to these results after months of year-on-year declines or very small growth?
Well, it seems the Strip is doubling down on high-limit clients and that strategy is finally seeming to pay off. Over the month, traditional casino games saw huge swings to the house with baccarat, blackjack and roulette all reporting vastly increased play and wins for the casinos. Slots income, traditionally the dominant revenue driver, fell 2% across Nevada’s gambling properties. This article will break down all the details, compare this October to recent months and look at what November’s results might show after a blockbuster Las Vegas Grand Prix late in the month.
Tourism Still Down, but the Big Casinos are Resilient
Despite the headline grabbing return to form in gambling numbers, tourism visitation to Las Vegas remained stubbornly down. 3.4 million people visited Las Vegas throughout the month, down 4.4% on last year. That result brought Sin City to its 12th month in a row without year-on-year growth in visitor numbers.
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Convention attendance was a big driver of visitation however, with attendance up around 7% on last October. The major tech conference Oracle CloudWorld towards the end of the month was a big draw and full of potentially wealthy tech investors. The transition towards higher limit gamblers on the Strip also hit Downtown Las Vegas, which saw a small decline in revenues year over year. Clark County, home to the Las Vegas Strip, saw its share of revenues rise 5%.
High Limit Baccarat Brings in the Big Bettors
While visitation was down – revenues were up. And a lot of that came from the VIP rooms and traditional casino games. In fact, table games brought in more $300 million for the month while slots brought in just over $400 million. That’s the closest revenues between the two have been since video slots took off in the early 2000s.
The casinos won $116 million at baccarat in October – the highest return on the game in years. That was a cool 69% up on last October. Baccarat is one of the more volatile casino games in Las Vegas and it is favored by high rollers, so big swings in luck in VIP rooms can significantly effect revenues for casinos over a month.
Roulette revenue also saw significant hike, growing 22% compared to October 2024 at $21.9 million for the month. Nevada’s sports bettors also fared poorly against the bookmakers, with the sportsbooks profiting $26 million for the month.
Although most analysts agree the trend has been a focus on high rollers over mass market visitation in recent months, October did see one giant operator acknowledge that changes will be needed to bring back middle class tourism to Las Vegas. MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle, said a mismatch in expenses and room pricing at more budget-friendly and family oriented resorts like Excalibur Las Vegas had led to lower revenues.
He told company investors that MGM would soon be looking to reassess prices on food, drinks and other amenities at its more mass market casino resort properties in the city.
Las Vegas Grand Prix is a Good Look for November’s Figures
However, there seems little chance of the focus on high rollers changed in November – as the Las Vegas Grand Prix rolled into town. Along with $20,000 event packages, extra private jet charters laid on and sold out rooms across town. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said it believes the race brought in more than a billion dollars in extra revenue for the city – a significant chunk of which would have been gambling at high-end Strip casinos.
Attendance for the race was reported to be around 300,000, which is less than the inaugural year in 2024 – but still a significant boost. If October’s figures are anything to go by, then November should have been a stellar month for the big casino operators. With Dutchman Max Verstappen winning a close race after falling out of favor this year, sportsbooks might have had a rough month – but the overall boost in VIP gamblers will surely more than make up for it.
Image by Greg Montani from Pixabay
