Las Vegas’ ongoing trend of “fewer people, more money” held steady again in July, as Nevada’s latest set of tourism and revenue figures continued their treks in opposite directions.
Visitation data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) was again grim. Overall visitor volume to the city was 3,089,300 in July, down 12% year-on-year. Every month in 2025 has registered YoY declines and it has been a calendar year since Las Vegas posted a visitation increase north of 1% (September 2024, +1.6%).
Convention attendance, at +10.7%, was perhaps the lone bright spot in July. That sector has been boom or bust, as every month since last December has seen either a double-digit gain or loss as convention schedules rotate.
Air travel to Harry Reid International Airport was down 5% YoY to 4.77 million passengers. International traffic specifically was down 4% from last year and that total is currently -2% year-to-date. That isn’t that bad as a total, but individual international airlines performed much worse. WestJet and AirCanada were down 33% and 25% YoY, respectively. Aeromexico and Volaris slid 9% and 3%, and British Airways posted a 12% decrease for the month.
Despite the various tourism declines, Nevada’s gaming revenue posted an increase for the second straight month. According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the state posted GGR of $1.35 billion in July, up 4% from the prior year. Nevada now begins FY26 solidly in the black, after a slide in FY25 ended a streak of three fiscal year revenue records from 2022 to 2024.
Baccarat back to black in July
Las Vegas stakeholders were happy to see the Strip post a 5.6% increase in GGR to $749 million in July. America’s gambling capital is also looking to rebound after a 3% decrease in FY25.
Looking closer at the Strip data, baccarat swung wildly back into favour in July. Strip casinos won $114.5 million on the game, a 79% increase over last year. The simple player-versus-banker game is essentially a coin flip and its volatility can either make or break Strip performance. For perspective, that one baccarat total was more than any overall market total except for the Las Vegas locals market.
Speaking of the locals market, that sector was down 3% YoY to $166 million. That market, along with Boulder (-1%) and downtown Las Vegas (+3.5%), largely buoyed the Las Vegas region last fiscal year amid the Strip’s struggles.
To the north, Reno led the way with GGR of $76 million in July, an uncharacteristic jump of 10% YoY. South Lake Tahoe enjoyed the increased summer traffic, posting a 21% gain to $37.7 million.
State sportsbooks bucked the historically soft summer sports schedule with a 47% gain compared to July 2024. This was primarily attributable to $28.7 million in baseball betting GGR.
Assessing the health of Las Vegas
The economic health of Las Vegas has been a national media topic of intrigue this summer. As perhaps the most consumer discretionary-led destination in the US, the city’s performance is often seen as a touchpoint for the broader economy. Leading Strip operators have drawn ire for high prices and fees and the success of ancillary markets like downtown was perhaps indicative of that.
But CEOs from around the industry remained cautiously optimistic, pointing to tough comps from record years and historically soft summer months. Now that September is here on the heels of two straight increases, sports and end-of-year holidays are approaching and that bullishness looks more justifiable.
“I think you’ll see more of those [results] as we round out the year, in the kind of low- to mid-single-digit range,” Josh Swissman, founding partner of GMA Consulting, told iGB. “This sort of range is indicating that we’re just kind of up and down ever so slightly from the peak of where we’ve been over the last couple of years.”
Is the worst behind us?
While Swissman stressed that visitation and macroeconomic factors are still cause for caution, he asserted that the totality of the data “indicates a level of resiliency in the gaming business”.
LVCVA CEO Steve Hill has been even more confident. The city’s longtime tourism chief has not been shy in pushing the narrative that fears of a slowdown are unfounded. He has maintained that Las Vegas is still an economically friendly destination, often comparing it to other big cities.
“I’m betting on Vegas,” Hill said at a press conference last week, per CDC Gaming. “Las Vegas is still the entertainment capital of the world. We’re all confident in the future of this city. We’ve met over the last couple of weeks with virtually every property and we’re excited about what we’re hearing.”
The NFL season, which is a huge sports betting and overall tourism draw, kicks off this Thursday. The MLB playoffs start 30 September and the NHL and NBA seasons begin 7 October and 21 October, respectively. The third annual Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix, a huge event for international travel specifically, is set for 22 November.
Las Vegas has seen two straight months of increasing revenue with decreasing tourism. Can these trends continue?