Vegas Strip Revenue Down 4% In January

The Nevada Gaming Control Board on Thursday released its report on gaming revenue for the Las Vegas area in January.

What Happened

Nevada's non-restricted gaming licensees reported a total “gaming win” of $984.5 million in January, a 3-percent year-over-year decrease.

Statewide revenue is now up 1 percent in the current fiscal year.

More than $532.2 million — about 54 percent — of Nevada's statewide gaming win in January came from the Las Vegas Strip.

Why It's Important

Shareholders of strip mega-resort operators Caesars Entertainment Corporation CZR, Las Vegas Sands Corp. LVS and MGM Resorts International MGM watch Strip numbers closely. The gaming win for the Strip was down 4 percent from a year ago in January.

Strip gaming win is now down 0.9 percent overall in the fiscal year, making the Strip the worst-performing region in the entire state from a growth perspective.

Downtown gaming win was down 7.8 percent on the month and is now up just 4.5 percent in the fiscal year.

Shares of Boyd Gaming Corporation BYD, which operates three downtown casinos, are up 47.7 percent year-to-date.

What’s Next

Despite relative strength in Vegas, casino stocks have struggled in the past year as the ongoing trade war and weakness in the Chinese economy have weighed on gaming revenue growth in Macau. However, casino stocks are off to a hot start to 2019 on hopes that an end to the trade war may be imminent.

Macau is expected to report its monthly revenue report on Friday. Last month, Macau reported a 5 percent drop in gross gaming revenue, its first year-over-year decline in more than two years.

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