Nevada casinos continued a hot streak in December, tallying a 10th straight month of $1 billion or more in house winnings and propelling end-of-year figures to a record $13.4 billion.
A Nevada Gaming Control Board report released Thursday provided more evidence that gambling recovered last year after coronavirus closures in 2020.
The calendar-year casino winnings figure was up a healthy 11.6% in 2021 compared with $12 billion in pre-pandemic 2019.
The report comes a day after renamed Harry Reid International Airport reported 39.7 million passengers last year — up dramatically from 2020, but down 21% compared with a record 50.5 million arriving and departing travelers in 2019.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority also planned to release a year-end report Thursday.
Gaming Control Board senior analyst Michael Lawton noted that casino winnings statewide were up almost 9% in December compared with the same month in 2019.
In monthly figures, casinos statewide won $1.15 billion in December. Las Vegas Strip properties won $651 million, compared with $592 million in pre-pandemic December 2019.
The year-end report showed that over the last 10 years, growth in casino winnings has averaged 4.8%. Slot machine winnings averaged 5.5% growth and table increased an average of 3.4%.
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