Vegas Gaming Surges Again as Tourism Slump Deepens With No End in Sight
Posted on: January 1, 2026, 10:58h.
Last updated on: January 1, 2026, 10:58h.
Las Vegas’ casino gaming ended 2025 on the kind of high note that once would have signaled a booming economy, but visitor numbers told a starkly different story.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board broke the good gaming news on Wednesday, reporting that the state’s 441 licensed casinos won $1.34 billion from gamblers, a 2.4% increase over 2024. This second straight monthly percentage increase represented the fourth-best month this year and the second-best November ever recorded.
At the same time, however, nearly every other tourism metric fell. According to the latest report from Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), which also dropped Wednesday, November 2025 visitation fell 5.2% compared with the same month in 2024 — a decline of roughly 170,000 to 172,000 people
This marked the tenth consecutive month of year‑over‑year losses, pushing total visitation for the year to a 7.2% deficit through November.
The slump persisted despite a November jam-packed with high-profile events including the third annual F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) automotive trade show, and three Raiders home games.
November’s decline didn’t come as a surprise, though. As we reported last week, air travel took a particularly sharp hit that month, as Harry Reid International Airport recorded a 9.6% passenger decline — the steepest monthly drop of the year – continuing a year-long slide in passenger traffic.
Playground for the Rich
The divergence between gaming win and tourism numbers has become the defining story of Las Vegas’ new economy. Casinos continue to thrive on higher‑spending visitors, while the region absorbs a sustained decline in middle‑ and working‑class tourism — a downturn that analysts no longer view as temporary but as a real trend with lasting economic consequences.
The implications of the ongoing Vegas tourism downturn reach into hotel revenues, public funding, and the broader stability of a city built on visitor volume.
Hotel performance shows the strain most clearly. Strip occupancy fell to 82.0% in November 2025, down 2.3 percentage points from a year earlier. Strip ADR (average daily rate) slipped to $205.57, a 2.4% decline, and Strip RevPAR (revenue per available room) dropped to $168.55, down 4.6% year over year — all clear evidence that operators are cutting rates to keep rooms filled.
Downtown’s numbers were far worse, with occupancy collapsing to 66.4% and RevPAR plunging 14.8%, more than triple the Strip’s decline and the steepest drop of any major sub-market in the region.
Looking ahead, UNLV’s Center for Business and Economic Research projects a rebound to around 40.1 million visitors in 2026, an increase of about 2.4%, assuming economic conditions stabilize. But if those projections miss, Las Vegas could face deeper consequences, including continued layoffs and reduced hours across the hospitality sector.
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