These days, the high rollers are still rolling into Las Vegas, but those on a budget no longer feel like winners.
Even as private jets pack the airport and V.I.P.’s crowd the high-stakes tables, a steady decline in overall visitors is sending ripples of worry through this city and beyond. Casinos have closed card rooms, restaurants have cut hours, and resorts have scrambled to lure customers back with deals and discounts.
And pain in Las Vegas, a sequin-draped economic indicator, tends to signal a malady in the nation at large.
“Some say when the country gets a cold, we get the flu,” said Aaron Ford, Nevada’s attorney general. “I say we get pneumonia.”
Sin City’s financial well-being has long relied on millions of tourists spending their discretionary income indiscreetly. But in an economy where the affluent thrive while the rest struggle, that formula is in trouble. President Trump’s tariffs and immigration raids are rattling workers and angering international travelers, especially Canadians, who stopped coming in droves after Mr. Trump began musing about their country becoming the “51st state.”
Would-be visitors appear to be fed up with the way that the increasingly consolidated casino industry has relentlessly raised rates. Many who do come to Las Vegas go home complaining about the pricey parking and $34 daiquiris. Locals, too, say it is harder to make ends meet in their once affordable city, now more than ever as the faraway war in Iran raises gas prices and the airline fares the city depends on.
Woldu Acheramit, who runs Lucy Ethiopian Restaurant, estimated that he had lost 70 percent of his income over the last year as tourists, especially those from other countries, pulled back. He said he had to lay off four longtime employees. At the same time, he said, everything has become more expensive — rent, utilities, the food he buys at local markets.
“Sometimes, we can’t even cover our expenses,” Mr. Acheramit said. “We’ll have to close the business if it keeps going like that.”
All of this is coinciding with a high-stakes campaign for governor pitting the Republican incumbent, Joe Lombardo, against Democratic challengers, like Mr. Ford, who have made pocketbook issues central to their campaigns.
For Americans carefully considering how they spend their money, some, such as Joe Granucci, a 51-year-old information technology worker from Oregon, feel Vegas just isn’t worth it anymore.
“Vegas used to be the place I’d go and find a great experience,” said Mr. Granucci, who visited the Strip with friends recently. “But now it’s, ‘Let’s go to Vegas and find the place that will screw me the least.’”
For casino owners more focused on the bottom line than the volume of visitors, the numbers still add up. Derek Stevens, who owns several casinos in downtown Las Vegas, said his properties’ limos are picking up more private jet passengers than ever before. He said he is tired of seeing headlines about Las Vegas’s financial woes.
“There’s a lot of money out there in the economy,” Mr. Stevens said, pointing to the crowded gambling tables at one of his casinos, Circa, on a recent afternoon. “All our minimums are pretty high, every seat is taken. That’s why, when you hear these ‘Vegas is dead stories,’ I’m like, I don’t know, I think that may be somebody who’s just pissed they’re getting squeezed out.”
The city has evolved into a luxury destination, he said, with high-end venues like the Sphere and the $1.9 billion Allegiant Stadium, where Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars jostle for time with the N.F.L.’s Raiders and with WrestleMania. Boosters have celebrated the record-breaking revenues that casinos raked in last year, despite plunging tourism levels, as evidence that the pivot toward a glitzier market is paying off.
“We can all fondly remember the 99-cent shrimp cocktail and a dollar a gallon for gas,” Mr. Stevens acknowledged, “but the reality is that’s in the past and it’s not coming back.”
But those record numbers are misleading, said Andrew Woods, the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Once adjusted for inflation, he said, the figures are far less impressive. Tourism remains “a volume business,” Mr. Woods said.
“Operators didn’t build legacy properties that only fill a couple of floors,” he said.
Las Vegas’s mayor, Shelley Berkley, has been trying to bring the volume back with a P.R. campaign that includes videos highlighting her city’s bargain attractions and public appeals for Canadians to return.
“Things are challenging now, but there’s still hope for the future,” Ms. Berkley said, ticking through a list of conventions that will soon be held in the city and nodding to new apartment complexes she says will help alleviate a housing crunch. And in February, for the first time in 13 months, Las Vegas saw its year-over-year visitor numbers increase slightly, bolstering the belief that the city may be turning a corner.
Alicia Watson, a food server at the Golden Nugget, didn’t share the mayor’s optimism. Fewer people are coming into her restaurant, she said, and those who do are tipping less. She estimated that she is making about half as much as she did early last year.
“If people aren’t coming here, if they can’t afford it here, then neither can we,” said Ms. Watson, a single parent who has cut back on driving as gas prices have soared. “I don’t see any of this getting better anytime soon.”
Save the Locals, a gift shop in the Vegas Arts District, has seen sales drop by more than 40 percent in recent months, said Stephanie Valadez, whose mother owns the store. It opened in September, and Ms. Valadez’s family has been trying to hold on, but the losses aren’t sustainable, she said.
“It’s really hard for the local businesses to stay open,” said Ms. Valadez, who works at the store.
Mr. Ford, a Democratic governor hopeful, is looking to capitalize on this economic anxiety. He has made cost-of-living concerns the centerpiece of his campaign, and he has criticized Mr. Lombardo for presiding over one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates.
Mr. Ford has sought to link Mr. Lombardo to the president’s unpopular policies, arguing the governor should have done more to insulate Las Vegas and the rest of the state from the effects of tariffs and rising gas prices.
“As governor you should be utilizing your position to serve those who put you in office,” Mr. Ford said.
Four years ago, Mr. Lombardo benefited from voter frustration, defeating a Democratic incumbent after anger over pandemic lockdowns. This year, Democrats hope Mr. Ford can do the same, in a high-profile test of the party’s affordability messaging.
Mr. Lombardo has blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat, for the cost of gas in Nevada, which gets much of its supply from its western neighbor. And he has defended his handling of the economy, saying he has slashed regulations and business taxes while supporting new housing development for the state’s middle class.
“While our economy is moving in the right direction, Governor Lombardo knows the job is not done and remains committed to making Nevada more affordable for hard-working families for another four years,” said Halee Dobbins, a spokeswoman for Mr. Lombardo’s campaign.
Peter Guzman, president of the state’s Latin Chamber of Commerce, who has advised Mr. Lombardo, credited him with keeping large-scale immigration raids out of Nevada. The governor has conveyed to the White House that such an operation would wreak havoc on the Las Vegas economy, he said.
“He absolutely has been critical in preventing chaos here, which we can’t afford, and he knows that,” Mr. Guzman said.
One issue most everyone agrees on: Las Vegas won’t achieve stability until it diversifies its economy.
Ms. Berkley, the Las Vegas mayor, said her city could not continue to be “100 percent dependent on gaming revenue.” Las Vegas should be courting other types of businesses, as it has done with professional sports teams, she said. But the city has survived worse economic shocks, she added, such as the financial and housing crisis of 2008 and the pandemic.
“Las Vegas is very resilient and we always bounce back,” Ms. Berkley said. “I think this city is very accustomed to making lemonade out of lemons.”
Reis Thebault is a Phoenix-based reporter for The Times, covering the American Southwest.
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