The 12 months ended 31st December marked another strong chapter in the Las Vegas Strip recovery story, and indications are the good news will continue into 2015.
But it won’t be gaming that drives it. Non-gaming spending by visitors continues to outpace casino revenue, and all indications are the trend will continue.
According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s recently published “Fiscal 2014 Gaming Abstract,” Strip casinos grew their total revenue by 5% last year to US$16.3 billion. Gaming revenue was up 4.2% to $5.99—but it comprised only 36.7 percent of the overall number. And it’s still down 7.7% from its peak of $6.5 billion in fiscal 2007.
But then, gaming’s contribution to the overall financial health of the Strip has been less than half since 1998. The average split of 60-40 between non-gaming and gaming revenue has been the trend on the since the mid-2000s.
Conversely, fiscal 2014 saw the non-gaming take reach 12-month revenue records. Hotel rooms on the Strip brought in $4.25 billion; restaurants accounted for $2.51 billion; alcohol sales topped $1.2 billion; and other areas—nightclubs, retail and entertainment—had revenue of $2.35 billion.
Visitation, meanwhile, is expected to top a record 41.1 million when calendar 2014 is in the books, and the city’s tourism authorities predict it will grow by another 500,000 in 2015.
Another Strip strong suit, conventions, counting those already booked for 2015, are projected to attract 15,000 more attendees than a year ago.
