(The Center Square) – Amid industrywide concerns over online gambling and a tourism drop in Las Vegas, the casino capital recorded a 6.5% decrease in gaming wins for January compared to last year, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
The gaming revenue dropped from $1.44 billion January 2025 to $1.35 billion in January 2026. Losses were larger along the Las Vegas Strip and Clark County, but were offset by minor gains across the rest of the state.
Separate reports by the Las Vegas Convention Center Authority in mid-January found that visitors to the Las Vegas area had dropped nearly 7.4% from the first 11 months of 2025 and 2024.
The tourism decline broke a four year post-pandemic bump in visitors. It came amid U.S. imposed tariffs against most of the world, a struggling national economy and an impending $250 visitor fee for international travelers.
“Las Vegas is often a reflection of the broader U.S. economy,” the convention center authority wrote to The Center Square in January. “Because we operate at high volume across every consumer segment, shifts in spending and behavior tend to surface here first.”
Gaming revenue increased between January 2025 and January 2026 in other parts of Nevada. That included Washoe County (4.2%), South Lake Tahoe (10.3%), Elko County (12.9%), the Carson Valley Area (3.17%) and all other gambling areas of the state (5.0%). But their collective revenues account for only around one-tenth of Clark County (-8.36%), where Las Vegas is located.
“Donald Trump and Joe Lombardo can claim that things are fine all they want, but the reality is: Month after month, tourism and gaming revenue have tumbled,” Attorney General Aaron Ford wrote in a Friday press release after the January gaming revenue results were released. Ford is running as the leading Democratic challenger against Republican Gov. Lombardo in this year’s gubernatorial election.
“Nevada has one of the highest unemployment rates in America and has lagged behind the rest of the nation in job growth,” Ford said.
Lombardo’s office did not respond to a request for comment by The Center Square, and had not made a public statement on the gaming report as of Tuesday afternoon. The Nevada Gaming Control Board did not respond to a request for comment
But the gaming control board’s report does indicate some reason to pump the brakes on pessimism. The fiscal year-to-date comparison from 2025 to 2026 (July to January) is almost exactly level at 0.7% growth statewide for revenue. If held across the rest of the year, this would be only a slight decrease on 2024’s 1.2% revenue growth, according to the Global Gaming Business Magazine.
While Las Vegas and Nevada have some difficult questions to answer in the coming years, gambling continues to be a major source for jobs and revenue for the Silver State, and trends indicate no immediate disruption to this status.
