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After closing out the 2023-24 fiscal year with record-setting win totals, the Nevada gambling industry couldn’t keep up a blistering pace in the first month of FY2024-25. Win for Nevada casinos and the state’s online poker licensees represented a year-over-year decline in July.
It’s the first annual drop since March 2024 for Nevada’s gambling sector and the most significant since November 2022. The statewide total still maintained another streak, though.
In-person gaming, online poker win slows in July
According to a release from the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB), Nevada’s gambling licensees reported more than $1.3 billion in win for July. That extends the streak of months hitting the billion-dollar mark to 41 in a row but that’s probably the brightest side of the numbers.
That total represented a decline of more than 6.9% compared to July 2023 Nevada gaming win. Therefore, the new fiscal year is off to a less-than-impressive start.
July’s gambling activity resulted in almost $95.9 million in gaming taxes for the state. That is only marginally down year-over-year.
For context, Nevada online casinos are not available, but you can play online poker in the state.
Amid the YOY downturn in win, a few of the state’s biggest contributors weren’t to blame.
Pockets of state buck larger trend
While most of the NGCB’s regions and subregions individually showed significant declines in a year-over-year comparison, there were some outliers. The biggest of those was the “Balance of County” subregion in Clark County, which was up over 19% for July.
North Lake Tahoe also showed a 14.1% uptick while downtown Las Vegas noted an improvement of almost 9.9%. Otherwise, all regions and subregions showed a marginal increase at best.
If Nevada’s gaming industry hopes for stronger returns in the coming months, it might want to examine the year more closely.
Recent history suggests August could marginally improve
In August for both 2023 and 2022, Nevada gaming win showed a slight improvement over the previous year’s August. While that would be preferable to a decline of almost 7%, August’s gains probably will not be strong enough to offset July’s decrease and get the state’s gaming industry back to a pace where it’s on track to set a new fiscal year record.
During each of the past two years, consistent year-over-year gains have occurred in November and December. Whether those will be strong enough to power the current term to a record pace will remain to be seen.
There are clear factors behind July breaking the string of records for single-month win in Nevada.
Mirage closing, other factors in Nevada
A big factor behind the year-over-year win decline, especially on the Las Vegas Strip, was the mid-July closing of the Mirage for the property’s renovations to become the new Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and Guitar Hotel Las Vegas. That casino did not operate for the final two weeks of the month.
Renovations are expected to take three years, so the Strip will have to make up that win elsewhere. Also important to note is that July 2024 had one fewer weekend than July 2023.
With that context in mind, a 6.9% drop might not be as bad as some expected. Either way, Nevada’s gambling industry has work to do if it wants to break its own fiscal year win record for the fifth consecutive term.
