The Las Vegas Strip had one of its best months in May with gross gaming revenue 13.2 percent ahead of last year and boosting state revenue by 7.4 percent over 2025 totals.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board on Monday reported Strip revenue of $807.9 million, the eighth best month in history, pushing the state’s total to $1.39 billion, the seventh best month ever. The increase virtually assures the state that revenue from the 2025-26 fiscal year will surpass the previous year’s $15.64 billion won by the state’s 464 largest casinos despite that there are now 17 fewer nonrestricted casinos operating statewide now than there were a year ago.
The amount won on the Strip was the best so far this calendar year and the best recorded since the $827.7 million won in December.
Statewide, the amount won by casinos was second only to March this calendar year.
The Strip take was the second-best percentage increase among markets monitored by the state, with South Lake Tahoe up 23.5 percent to $16.7 million in May.
The Reno and outlying Elko County markets also had double-digit percentage increases, up 11.1 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively.
The Strip’s performance boosted revenue generated in Clark County by 7.4 percent to $1.2 billion and helped offset disappointing performances in outlying Clark County (down 5.6 percent to $164.4 million) Laughlin (down 5.2 percent to $41 million) and downtown Las Vegas (down 4.2 percent to $63.9 million).
Statewide, only one of the 20 markets monitored by the Control Board has won less than it did a year ago – North Lake Tahoe, which is down 8.1 percent to $21.4 million. The best performing market statewide is outlying Washoe County, which is up 9.1 percent to $90.4 million.
The best performing market in Southern Nevada is Mesquite, up 6.9 percent to $192.6 million.
The collection of the 6.75 percent tax on gross gaming winnings is important to the state because collected taxes are routed to the state’s general fund. Taxes collected as of last Tuesday reached $89.5 million, the fourth best month for the fiscal year.
Collections from May bumped the total tax collected for the fiscal year to over $1 billion.
May collections were 19.1 percent ahead of May 2025 and raised the 11-month total to $1.04 billion, 5.1 percent ahead of the previous year.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
