Las Vegas Strip Roars Back to Life With Second-Best January Result Ever

Posted on: February 28, 2025, 02:56h. 

Last updated on: February 28, 2025, 02:58h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • Las Vegas and Nevada started 2025 strong in terms of gaming
  • January 2025 was the second-best January ever
  • Table games and sports betting were most responsible

The Las Vegas Strip is back. After six months of year-over-year gaming revenue declines, the most important gaming market in the United States readied a comeback to start the new year.

Las Vegas Strip GGR gaming revenue
A new year ushered in a new Las Vegas Strip, as the main drag ended a streak of six year-over-year monthly revenue declines. Strip revenue in January 2025 climbed 22.5% to $840 million. (Image: AP)

On Thursday, the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported that January gross gaming revenue (GGR) on the Strip climbed 22.5% from January 2024.

Last month, Strip casinos won a little more than $840 million from players, with strong numbers from baccarat, craps, roulette, and sports leading the charge. Revenue from table games and oddsmakers surged 46% to almost $415.7 million.

Slots held their own, too. The reels kept $424.4 million of Strip players’ spin money to begin 2025.

2025 Turnaround

Statewide, GGR totaled $1.44 billion, or 12.5% growth from January 2024. January 2025 was the second-best casino revenue month in Nevada’s history. Last month was also the second-best January ever for the Strip.

Michael Lawton, the NGCB’s senior economic analyst, cautioned that a favorable comparable likely played into the strong 2025 start. Lawton explained that January 2024 was soft because many would-be travelers delayed their visits to Southern Nevada last year to coincide with Las Vegas hosting Super Bowl 58 at Allegiant Stadium on Feb. 11, 2024.

Lawton also pointed out that the 2025 New Year fell midweek, which likely prompted many New Year’s Eve revelers to extend their Strip stays to four or five days. Dec. 31, 2023, fell on a Sunday, with New Year’s Day a Monday.

January gains, however, were felt in several other markets. North Las Vegas revenue was up 5% to $23.8 million and Mesquite win jumped 10% to $17.4 million. Clark County as a whole saw GGR climb 13% to almost $1.27 billion.

In Douglas County, South Shore Lake Tahoe GGR surged 22% to $22.3 million, while Elko County GGR was up 13% to $32.7 million. Washoe County, home to Reno, posted a 3% gain to $90.1 million. Even the six small gaming parlors in remote White Pine County saw play surge 20% to more than $1 million.

Not everywhere prospered though. Notable markets posting year-over-year declines included downtown Las Vegas, (-2.3%, $83.8 million), Laughlin (-5%, $42.2 million), and Boulder (-6.2%, $87.4 million).

Convention Numbers Improve

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau reported that visitor volume in January was down 1.1% to 3.34 million people. Harry Reid International Airport said it facilitated about 4.36 million arriving and departing passengers, which was flat from a year ago.

The bright spot in terms of January visitation was convention attendance. The LVCVA detailed that Las Vegas welcomed 628,800 people who arrived primarily to attend a conference or business event. That was a 13% improvement to start the year.

Convention traffic has failed to return to pre-COVID-19 levels. In 2019, Las Vegas counted approximately 6.65 million conventioneers. In 2024, that number totaled just shy of six million.

Overall visitation to Las Vegas is also still below 2019, though not as drastically. In 2019, Las Vegas welcomed 42.5 million visitors. Last year, the city counted 41.7 million guests.