Las Vegas’ recovery reached another milestone in July. The Strip Casinos recorded $793.7 million in revenue, the highest ever for a single month, up by 140.5% from July 2020.
Downtown casinos added $71.2 million, up by 70.7% from last year. Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, collected $1.16 billion, up by 89.7%. July marked the second month where the county surpassed the billion mark.
In addition, the state of Nevada marked the fifth month in a row with gambling revenue over a billion, with $1.36 billion collected in July, up by 80% compared to July the year before. In the entire 2020, the state took in $7.87 billion, which will be surpassed soon.
For Las Vegas, multiple factors contributed to July’s record-breaking revenue. Last year, a few hotels and resorts were not open, including Circa, Virgin Hotels and Resorts World Las Vegas (which collected $30–$40 million alone).
In addition, many events were organized, including Cirque du Soleil, Garth Brooks’ concert at Allegiant Stadium, and UFC 264 between Connor McGregor and Dustin Portier.
After all, data shows that only 7% of Vegas’ visitors come for the gambling, the rest come for entertainment.
Another factor that helped was the fact that July had five weekends, and with the soccer game between the US and Mexico on August 1st, the last weekend brought in huge crowds.
Furthermore, several records were broken in July, including:
- The slot machine win for the month was $873.7 million, the highest ever. Players put $12.2 billion into the slot machines, the second-highest ever.
- The casino slot win was $459.6 million, beating June by almost $100 million.
- The coin-in volume of $4.8 billion beat the previous record, set in March 2007.
- Sportsbooks set records for both wins, with $33.3, million and volume, with $409.9 million wagered.
Las Vegas visitors were up by 130% compared to July 2020. The numbers have still not reached those of 2019s, but they are recovering steadily. July 2021 was down 10.4% from 2019.
So far, August is not on pace with July, primarily due to the Delta Covid-19 variant and schools starting, but that could all change.
