As someone who enjoys taking in Las Vegas’ gaming-focused landscape, the city’s downturn in visitation was fairly obvious to track throughout 2025. Outside of popular sporting events and Wizard of Oz fans dressing appropriately for the film’s debut at The Sphere, Las Vegas struggled to replicate the almost brimming popularity it previously generated as the gaming capital of North America.
Coincidentally, gaming has remained as popular as ever in Las Vegas, but the country’s recent political climate, as well as increased hospitality costs on the Strip, have turned even the most regular consumers away from traveling to Sin City. For example, MGM Resorts International reported a 4% decrease in Las Vegas operations revenue for Q4 2025, but the vertical’s casino revenue still managed to climb 13% to $569m during the quarterly period.
The overarching theme for the city in 2025 was that many visitors, the majority of which being from international markets, simply showed little interest in staying on the Las Vegas Strip, even while locals still supported more residential gaming attractions.
What led to Las Vegas’ tourism decline in 2025?
“This is a wake-up call for the US Government,” World Travel & Tourism Council President and CEO Julia Simpson said in May 2025.
“The world’s biggest travel and tourism economy is heading in the wrong direction, not because of a lack of demand, but because of a failure to act. While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the US government is putting up the ‘closed’ sign.”
The effects of US seemingly closing its borders to many international markets extended to its most popular gaming destination, as 2025 visitor volume in Las Vegas fell by 7.5% and total occupancy decreased 3.3%. Not to be outweighed are the rising costs for hospitality accommodations and consumer goods on the Las Vegas Strip, let alone the prices to attend shows at The Sphere or large-scale properties.
Operators such as MGM, Wynn Resorts and Caesars Entertainment all reported decreases in net income for FY2025, including a $502m loss for Caesars during the full-year period. The entities also witnessed decreases in revenue across its Las Vegas operations for both Q4 and FY2025, showcasing the halt in financial momentum which had been continuously building since the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, just because the Las Vegas Strip lost a portion of its vast popularity in 2025, that doesn’t necessarily equate to the city’s overall success falling short of expectation. The financial momentum garnered by Strip properties could still remain in Las Vegas, but from a more localized perspective.
How are Las Vegas locals casinos taking advantage of Strip visitation drop?
Extending past the Las Vegas Strip, operators such as Boyd Gaming and Red Rock Resorts also reported Q4 and FY2025 results, with a relatively mixed bag of financial success. Boyd Gaming witnessed a 4.1% increase in net revenue during FY2025 to $4.1bn, as well as a 218.9% increase in net income for the full-year period to $1.8bn.
The operator’s FY net income figure was assisted by its sale of remaining FanDuel ownership to Flutter Entertainment, but still helps to reveal Boyd Gaming’s growth in 2025. Set to introduce its new Cadence Crossing Casino by April, Boyd Gaming's presence across Las Vegas will continue to expand throughout the new year.
While Red Rock Resorts saw its net income fall 3.5% to $84.6m, the operator’s FY2025 net income increased 22.1% to $355.7m. Red Rock Resorts also increased revenue from Las Vegas operations by 2.9% to nearly $2bn for FY2025, as adjusted EBITDA grew 4.2% to $915.9m. The operator serves as a holding company to Station Casinos, which has grown to oversee seven casino and hotel properties surrounding the residential Las Vegas area.
Through expanded marketing and elevated amenities, off-Strip casinos have built upon the losses witnessed by Las Vegas’ most prominent operators in 2025. Despite what could be viewed as a sign of concern for the future, many top executives from the likes of MGM, Wynn Resorts and Caesars still remain hopeful of a return to normalcy in 2026.
Can the Las Vegas Strip reclaim its previous popularity levels?
As part of MGM Resorts Q4/FY 2025 investors conference call, President and CEO Bill Hornbuckle spoke on the positive trends witnessed to close out the prior year, and how the operator continues to believe in Las Vegas’ return to normalcy.
“’24 was an amazing year, and so ‘25 was difficult. But, generally speaking, we feel very positive. Positive enough to think that we’re going to exit ‘26 on an up,” Hornbuckle said.
“We exited 2025 with Las Vegas showing signs of stabilization and an improving trajectory. We continue to see those positive trends as we begin 2026 and expect to make even greater progress from a reset baseline in Las Vegas.”
Whether that baseline reforms itself after a worrisome 2025 is certainly still in question, with many keeping tabs on the monthly gaming revenue reports released by the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB). Results for the opening month of 2026 have yet to be reported, but December 2025 gaming revenue in Nevada fell 1.6% to $1.5bn during December 2025, including a 6.1% decrease in Las Vegas Strip gaming revenue to $827.7m.
Las Vegas Strip operators may also feel pressured to regain customer loyalty prior to new competition launching by 2027 and 2029, with Hard Rock International and Bally’s Corporation soon joining the high-profile fold. Many residential operators such as Boyd Gaming and Station Casinos would still argue that when the Strip is thriving, however, all of Las Vegas is able to feed off its success.
Perhaps 2025 was what figures such as Hornbuckle believe it to be – a down year for the industry as a whole – but one which was coming off a highly successful period for various entities. Or…the last 12 months could be an indicator of changing tides in Las Vegas, one which seems to be flowing more toward locals casinos rather than large-scale operators the industry is used to celebrating.
Downtown Las Vegas properties owned by gaming executive Derek Stevens began valuing Canadian currency the same as USD on January 22, as part of a new At Par program through August 31
