Post pandemic and despite inflation, Nevada is on track to break the single-year gambling revenue record set last year.

Simone Del Rosario Business Correspondent

Nevada’s hot streak: Gambling revenue tops $1 billion for 20 straight months

Dec 02, 2022

Simone Del Rosario Business Correspondent

By Simone Del Rosario (Business Correspondent), Emma Stoltzfus (Editor)

Nevada gambling revenue topped $1 billion for the 20th consecutive month in October, bringing in $1.28 billion in “gaming wins,” according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The Silver State’s hot streak has it on pace to break the annual gambling revenue record set last year.

October’s gambling revenue total is 4.8% higher than a year ago and 25% more than before the pandemic in October 2019. Slots across the state are the biggest money makers, scoring $877 million of the month’s pot. That’s 69% of all October revenue and up 11% from last year.

Meanwhile, within sports betting, mobile betting (+62%), football (+12%) and baseball (+86%) increased in October. Overall sports betting was up 17.7% from a year ago. Still, the sports pool makes up just a small fraction of Nevada’s gambling jackpot at less than 5%.

Despite high inflation and worries of recession, in October, Las Vegas visitors were up 7.3% year over year and are as close as the city has been to reaching pre-pandemic tourism levels, down just 0.8% from October 2019, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

3.64 million visitors descended on Las Vegas in October, thanks in part to the When We Were Young music festival, two Raiders home games and the NASCAR South Point 400 race, according to the authority. And while events and conventions draw visitors in, gambling on the Las Vegas Strip alone accounts for more than half the state’s gaming revenue.

Despite COVID-19, Nevada collected a record $13.4 billion in gambling revenue in 2021, which was 11.6% higher than pre-pandemic 2019 numbers, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The previous all-time high was in 2007 when the state recorded $12.8 billion.

Now, Nevada is on pace to break the record again. So far, the state has recorded $12.3 billion in 10 months of 2022.

The thirst for gambling goes beyond Nevada, too. According to the American Gaming Association, U.S. commercial gaming revenue topped $15 billion for the first time in the third quarter of 2022, with 16 states marking all-time records.