Casino Baccarat Revenue Jumps Up 69%, Plus More Vital 69-Related News

By Scott Roeben, on November 25 2025
5 min read 0 comments
Las Vegas

We can’t recall ever doing a story about gaming revenue. That’s largely because we hate the word “gaming” when it’s “gambling.”

This time, we’re reporting on gaming revenue because baccarat revenue went up 69% year-over-year at Nevada casinos in October 2025. Nevada casinos are head over heels ecstatic about this news.

Gird your loins for the only 69-centric casino journalism you are likely to see, ever.

One person’s “cherry-picking” is another’s “editorial pruning.”

Anyway, Nevada casinos made a metric hell-ton of gaming revenue in October 2025, despite a Las Vegas visitation slump.

That means the people who are visiting are gambling more, despite there being fewer of them.

You’re welcome, Nevada casinos. Our four-month losing streak is pretty much keeping Nevada’s economy afloat.

Every month, the Nevada Gaming Control Board provides updates about how much casinos are making in revenue from gambling. Please keep in mind that revenue isn’t profit.

For example, while Downtown Grand made gambling “revenue” at some point, that doesn’t mean it’s profitable. The bank is about to take it back from owner CIM, in fact, a story nobody’s really been reporting because journalism is to Las Vegas like water is to the Gobi Desert. Also, did you know Downtown Grand has about $5 million a year in EBITDA? Nobody really knows what EBITDA is, but it’s a handy measurement for comparing successful casinos with Downtown Grand.

Anyway, here is some very important information we cut and paste from the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s month (sic) report to provide insights and context without exerting any actual effort on our part. Complete transparency: we have not read it, nor will we ever do so under any circumstances, for any amount of money. “This report is a summary of information provided by nonrestricted gaming licensees who file Monthly Gross Revenue Statistical Reports (Form NGC-31). Results are provided in a current one-month, three month, and twelve month format. Gaming results from restricted licensees are not included in this report. The data provided is subject to change due to late filings of reports, audits, and other adjustments occurring subsequent to the release date of this publication. All locations included in revenue range groups are based on the cumulative gaming win reported in the current twelve months covered by this report. Gaming win for locations that have changed ownership during the current twelve months is combined in order to establish proper placement for such locations in appropriate revenue range groups. Locations newly licensed during the current twelve months are included in revenue range groups based on each location’s gaming win, beginning with the month in which gaming operations commenced and based on cumulative totals thereafter. Locations included in revenue range groups in the current periods are also included in the comparative year-ago groups regardless of the revenue produced in the year-ago periods. The minimum number of locations in any revenue range or area group is four.”

How the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) looks at this boring crap all day long without jumping off a Strip pedestrian bridge into heavy traffic we may never know.

They start off with a summary of revenue (.pdf) earned in a particular month, both across the state of Nevada and in certain geographic locations, like Sparks. Sparks is a hub of economic activity like our bed is a hub of sexual activity.

Anyway, for October 2025, there was a statewide increase in gaming revenue of 4.95%. On the Strip, gaming revenue was up 8.21%.

Vegas casinos are realizing you don’t need more people, you just need the right people.

Why would you care about these numbers? You wouldn’t. Which is why it’s weird when local news outlets report these publicly available numbers like they’re Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein doing whatever they did back in the good old days when elected officials were actually embarrassed by being caught engaging in malfeasance.

But the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s cavalcade of reports doesn’t end there! That would be lame.

No, they really get into it. They break down revenue by game. Within this next report (.pdf) we can see the most important stat for October 2025, the baccarat win. We have highlighted the pertinent percentage for your convenience.

The NGCB should include the big red arrows. That would be hilarious.

That’s right. Fewer people. More gambling revenue. Why? Basically, the people who gambled in October were really terrible at baccarat.

The “t” in “baccarat” is silent. Please feel free to ridicule those who pronounce it incorrectly.

So much data to unpack!

While baccarat revenue increasing 69% year-over-year is a headline-worthy stat, what about the number of slot machines at the $25 denomination? That’s right, there are 69 slot machines at the $25 denomination in Nevada. This refers to machines where the denom is specifically set at $25, not machines where you can select to play at a $25 denomination. Those machines are “multi-denomination” slots.

Go big or go home.

Delving even further into this month’s report, we see another fascinating fact: The race book win amount in a three-month window from August 1, 2025 to Oct. 31, 2025. The win: 6969. These represent dollars. “Win amounts” are in thousands. So, sportsbooks in the 449 reporting licensees made $6,969,000 in three months.

Divided by 449 licensees, that’s $15,500 per licensee.

“Race books” and “sports pools” (what people are referring to when they talk about “sportsbooks”) are separate things because of their different wagering models. A race book is for horse-racing’s pari-mutuel bets (bettors wager against each other, not the house), a sports pool covers all other house-banked sports wagering (the book sets the line and takes the opposite side of bets).

The biggest difference: Sports pools are growing, race books are dying. Horse racing is cruel and stupid, and it’s time to end the torture of these beautiful animals, many of whom have penises resembling your average industrial smokestack.

Another key takeaway from this month’s NGCB report is the fact revenue generated by $100 denomination slots fell 69% (August 1, 2025 to Oct. 31, 2025).

Baccarat is doing a lot of the heavy lifting at the moment.

Are there any tidbits or “learnings” to be gleaned from such reports that are not related to 69?

No.

These reports are boring.

Any one month or three-month window isn’t indicative of anything.

Is it worth noting pretty much every denomination of slot machine went down in revenue year-over-year (hint: look for numbers inside parenthesis)? No. Why? No trace of 69. How is that not a bigger headline? Slots are the bread and butter of Las Vegas casinos.

Why would a normal person care about casino gambling revenue, anyway? Unless, of course, you want to look at which machines are taking most of your disposable income.

The answer: Penny slots.

When machines are the most profitable for casinos, that means they’re the least profitable for you. Overall, the higher the denomination, the lower the hold. So, play as high an uncomfortable denomination as you can afford.

We hope you have found these 69-related insights satisfying. We did. We would hate to think we were satisfied when you weren’t, if you get our drift.

We aren’t growing up, you grow up.

Update (11/25/25): Almost forgot. Non-gaming-related.

Update (11/25/25): Here’s more boring data, almost entirely bereft of 69, sadly. Year-to-date, visitation has declined 7.6% from 2024, mostly due to women insisting men use condoms.

Visitation might be dropping, but the number of parking spots close to the entrance of wherever you’re going has increased, so there’s that.

Update (11/25/25): Aw, screw it. Let’s just put all the bad news in one story.

All the sad trombone players in Las Vegas are exhausted.