Vegas Strip Revenue Down 3.8% In March

The Nevada Gaming Control Board on Thursday released its monthly report on gaming revenue for Las Vegas.

What Happened

Nevada's non-restricted gaming licensees reported a total “gaming win” of $1.022 billion in March, down 0.1 percent year-over-year. For the current fiscal year, statewide revenue is now up 0.7 percent overall.

More than $573.9 million — about 56 percent — of Nevada's statewide gaming win in March 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 for signs of the latest Vegas trends. Gaming win for the Strip was down 3.8 percent in March compared to a year ago.

Strip gaming win is now down 1.3 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 up 8.6 percent in March and is now up 5.5 percent in the current fiscal year.

Shares of Boyd Gaming Corporation BYD, which operates three downtown casinos, are up 50.2 percent year-to-date.

What’s Next

Despite relative strength in Vegas, casino stocks struggled in the second half of 2018 as the ongoing trade war and weakness in the Chinese economy 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 May 1. Last month, Macau reported a 0.4-percent decline in gross gaming revenue. Overall, Macau gaming revenue was down 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2019.

Related Links:

Casino Analyst Bullish On Vegas, But Not Macau

Casinos Among The Hardest-Hit Businesses During Economic Downturns