Is the Canadian Travel Boycott Impacting U.S. Casinos?

Posted on: March 27, 2025, 03:18h. 

Last updated on: March 30, 2025, 04:58h.

Mark Keast Read More

Expertise: Canadian Gaming, iGaming, Las Vegas, Sports Betting, NFL, Boxing, UFC.

• More Canadians boycotting travel to U.S. over tariff dispute
• Las Vegas airport reports decrease in Canadian travellers in February
• LVCVA reports little impact on Canadian travel to Vegas so far

Lots of talk about Canadians boycotting travel to the U.S., keeping their vacations local, over a trade tariff dispute with the U.S. and talk by President Donald Trump about making Canada the 51^st state.

Billion Dollar Losses

The US Travel Association says even a 10% drop in Canadian travel to the U.S. could have a big impact, costing the American economy USD$2 billion, with 14,000 job losses.

There are obvious casino implications in all of this. Especially as it relates to Canadian travel to Las Vegas.

Contrary to some reporting, though, WestJet hasn’t reduced services on routes to Las Vegas, at least for the foreseeable future.

WestJet has observed a shift in bookings from the U.S. toward other sun destinations such as Mexico and the Caribbean, and to transatlantic destinations, and has adjusted its schedule and service frequencies—as is common across the aviation industry—to meet guest demand,” a spokesperson told Casino.org. “However, there have been no route cuts to Las Vegas.”

WestJet: No Las Vegas Route Cuts

This media report has Air Canada reducing capacity on routes to Florida, Las Vegas and Arizona starting this month, citing the tariff dispute.

Lora Green, who runs Casino Marketing Group in Toronto, also said she’s seen a small drop in business. Green runs an exclusive service, where her company puts together customized, exclusive trips for her network of high-roller gamblers to luxury casinos like Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Her company was founded in 1978.

“There’s been some downturn, yes, and I am nervous about this summer because we send a lot of people to Las Vegas during the summer months,” she said.

Anger at Trump

According to Rebecca Lane, Public Relations Manager for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, it’s too soon to tell if there has been a noticeable dip in Canadians travelling to Las Vegas. Every year LVCVA publishes a detailed visitation profile study, but the 2024 study was just published, too soon to dive into any year-over-year traveller comparisons so far in 2025.

According to data released by Harry Reid International Airport today, there was 7.5% less travellers overall that went through the airport in February. Air Canada reported a 5% year over year decline in passengers to the airport in February – 50,652. WestJet reported 55,541, a 17.3% drop. Flair, a low-cost carrier out of Edmonton, reported a 55.2% drop, to 11,740 passengers.

North of the border, the question then becomes if Canadian land-based casino operators and resorts are doing anything extra to lure Canadians to their properties, perhaps seizing an opportunity.

A weaker Canadian dollar also makes it more enticing for Canadians to travel at home.

“In recent years, quite a number of casinos have opened up in Ontario,” said Professor David Soberman, Canadian National Chair in Strategic Marketing, Area Coordinator for Marketing, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. 

Opportunity for Canadian Casinos?

“There are four in Toronto, and many are nearby including Fallsview in Niagara and Casino Rama Resort near Orillia. With the recent developments in Canada-US trade relations and the damage this has caused to our currency, many Canadians are thinking about cancelling or avoiding tourism trips to the US. 

We know a lot of Canadians go to Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Reno for gambling. This is a great time for these gambling operations in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada to capitalize on this trend and boost traffic … especially in the winter when volumes are down. Perhaps family packages could be developed that include family activities (skating, snowmobiling, dog sledding) and entertainment events (many major casinos have excellent musical theatres). The marketing could be ‘Save the airfare to Vegas and have a blast right here in ….’ or ‘DON’T gamble ON Canada…gamble IN Canada’.”

Casino.org reached to Great Canadian, Gateway and Mohegan, each of which operates numerous casinos in Canada, and asked each if they had plans to more aggressively market Canadians in light of fewer Canadians travelling to the U.S., but didn’t hear back on the record from any of them.