Las Vegas economy gets March Madness boost

Nevada casinos reported near-record winnings in March. At the same time, Las Vegas Airport announced that its passenger traffic has almost reached pre-pandemic levels. 

Due to such high numbers, Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB), announced that casinos across the state had reached $1.35bn. This is close to the $1.36bn monthly record. 

The house-slot machine wins records have been broken and the Las Vegas Strip has the highest ever monthly slot winnings. 

NGCB Senior Analyst Michael Lawton commented that “a traditional ‘March Madness’ atmosphere returned” following the removal of all Covid restrictions, including mask wearing.

Sports betting was a lot more interesting in March. There were NASCAR races, mixed martial art fights, and NCAA basketball games. From $863m in wagers, sportsbooks won almost $40m.

According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCCVA), March also witnessed a rise of nearly 50% in Las Vegas visitor numbers to reach 3.3million. This observation revealed that more trade shows were returning to Las Vegas and that hotels in the area of Las Vegas had a higher occupancy rate than 80%.

For March, the Harry Reid International Airport saw almost 4.3 Million passengers. This is only a 140,000 decrease from March 2019, when it had logged 4.4 million.

The international traveller population reached 154,000 in February, an increase of more than half since February. April will see increased flights to destinations in Mexico, Canada and Panama. 

Nevada received almost $98m of March casino winnings in tax. This stream of income is an important source of revenue for Nevada, accounting for around 17% overall state revenues.