The Nevada gaming industry set a new record for the month of April with $1.24 billion in statewide revenue, according to figures released by the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB). This represented a year-over-year increase of just under 7 percent.
State slots accounted for $886.8 million of that total, mainly due to a strong month for multi-denomination games ($586.8 million), which had a 26.4 percent increase year-over-year.
Conversely, all of the low-tier denominations from 1 cent to $5 showed decreases of at least 15 percent, which highlighted a reliance on high-end play.
Table, counter and card games brought in $353.4 million, an increase of 10 percent from a year ago. As usual, blackjack ($110.2 million) and baccarat ($76.1 million) led the way, with baccarat logging an impressive 72.5 percent jump year-over-year.
The Las Vegas Strip tallied $666 million for the month, which was an increase of 6.6 percent from last year but the lowest total thus far in 2024. The market was bolstered by strong table play, with its baccarat revenue accounting for virtually all of the state’s total.
Slot revenue for the region ($409 million) also grew by 4 percent despite a 7 percent decrease in handle.
Downtown Las Vegas’ total of $82.7 million was an 11 percent year-over-year increase. Boulder ($82.1 million) and Mesquite ($16.8 million) tallied increases of 8.5 and 1.2 percent, respectively, whereas Laughlin ($43.5 million) and North Las Vegas ($23.8 million) were the only southern Nevada markets to log decreases—Laughlin at 6.9 percent and North Las Vegas at 3.3 percent.
The northern markets did not fare as well, with Washoe County as a whole logging $82.8 million, a 5 percent decrease from last year. Reno’s decrease of 5.9 percent was mainly due to a 10 percent slide in table-game revenue, but that paled in comparison to Sparks’ table-game drop of 37 percent.
Both Carson City and Elko also reported year-over-year declines of 1 and 8 percent respectively.
Overall, analysts said the numbers are indicating that high-end revenues are steady or increasing but low- to mid-tier play is stagnating or declining.
Chad Beynon, an analyst for Macquarie Equity Research, wrote in a research note “we maintain our bias toward the high end, as we believe the high-end luxury consumer continues to have a willingness to spend, while lower-income consumers may be feeling the pinch.”
Benyon also noted that the state’s trends follow broader U.S. trends in that regional casino revenue has dropped approximately 5 percent compared to last year.
