Show Me The Money
March 23, 2010
I suppose this comes as no great surprise to anyone:
A report finds that Las Vegas visitors spent an average of more than $50 less on gambling in 2009 than the year before.
A Las Vegas Visitor Profile released by Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority found the average gambler budgeted about $481 per trip last year.
That compares with almost $532 in 2008, more than $555 in 2007 and nearly $652 in 2006.
The study found hotel spending per night was down 25% in 2009, to about $76; the average cost of a tour package was down 14%, to about $640; and the total spent on restaurants was down 8%, to about $250.
Spending on shopping was down 16%, to about $102. Visitors spent an average of about $40 on shows, down 23%.
Cabo Wabo Cantina on The Strip
Mon Ami Gabi on The Strip
According to recent stats from the LVCVA, the average room rate in 2009 was between $105 and $99, yet this release says that the average hotel expenditure per night was $76. This is in line with the average nightly rate released by Hotels.com. I’m not sure if the LVCVA is including comped rooms into the average, if they are excluding resort fees, or what their methodology is, but there seems to be at least some inconsistency in the two LVCVA studies.
Aside from that small anomaly, I suppose these percentage decreases are in-line with expectations. Even so, I still find these stats fascinating on a different level. They are strangely vicarious. Reading this report is almost like catching a glimpse of your dual-BMW owning neighborhood’s anemic paycheck, or realizing that your boss has a crappy credit score.
I’m actually somewhat stunned at just how little money people have been bringing to Las Vegas all of these years.
Even during the height of Vegas’s popularity in 2006, the average gambling budget was only $652, or twenty six hands of mid-level ($25) Blackjack. Even in the best of times, the average gambler would have had their bankroll wiped out from a 15 minute losing streak. Talk about being under pressure to start strong.
As a steadfast proponent of anti-consumerism, low-roller gambling, coupon-clipping, and getting the best bang for your buck, even I think this bankroll is surprisingly low … and those were the amounts spent during more optimistic times.
These days, the “typical” gambler only brings enough to play 19 hands of regular odds Blackjack. After that, they are done. I’m beginning to see why low-limit Crapjack is so popular on The Strip. Given the choice of potentially blowing your wad in the first 10 minutes of your vacation, or taking reduced payouts on $1, $3, and $5 bets … I suppose the latter is more attractive.
What I don’t understand, however, is why most of these low-rollers do not stay and play Downtown.
$481 is not enough for a Strip gambling weekend. In my opinion, it’s not even close. Sure, you can play, but the casino doesn’t value table game players at these limits. The house will give you action, but only begrudgingly so, and they won’t treat you terribly well.
The same gambling bankroll Downtown, however, is quite reasonable. Especially given that you will save money on cabs, dining, and accommodations. Your perceived value will also be higher to the house, and you will have a shot at a few comps. Sometimes, it’s better to be a small fish in a smaller pond.
I’m aware that the LVCVA’s numbers include visitors to Downtown, but if that figure is really an average, Downtown should be vying for at least half of all tourist gaming dollars. From what I am reading, most Vegas tourists belong Downtown.
Even though I find the gambling set-asides of the average tourist to be low, I find the show expenditures to be even more ridiculously low, and the dining budgets to be paradoxically high.
I personally don’t understand why people spend a large portion of their vacation eating. For Christ’s sake, you can eat anytime, and you can get food anywhere. Wherever you are reading this from, I would be willing to bet that you can get Vegas-equivalent food in your nearest large town. The only exception to this is buffets. Vegas has the best buffets on the planet.
Gambling and shows, however, are reasonably unique to Vegas. Sure, you can go to Tunica or Foxwoods, but brick-and-mortar gambling is still a stereotypical Vegas endeavor. There also aren’t many places to see things like Zumanity, Love, or Sin City Bad Girls. Our shows can only be seen here.
This being the case, I can’t fathom why someone would budget $250 for food (which can be obtained anywhere), but only $40 for shows (which can be obtained only here).
And shopping?
Why?
These folks don’t have malls where they come from?
To each his own, and I am not so much critiquing as I am expressing surprise and trying to figure it out. I would have assumed some of these numbers to be reversed, but I suppose if these numbers tell me anything, it is that I was a highly atypical tourist.
Anyway, while Vegas tourists may be back, it is clear that the money has not followed suit.
At least not yet.
Now if you will excuse me, I am off to exhaust my happy ending budget for the week.
Enjoy your steak.
Written by Disco Stu on March 23, 2010 at 11:23 pm
The person who wrote “an average of more than $50 less on gambling” must be the person who justifies the enormous marketing budget the LVCVA receives.
Written by Parchedearth on March 24, 2010 at 12:00 am
The numbers are heavily skewed because a lot of zeros are averaged in. Mandalay Bay says that almost 70% of their guests do not gamble. Presumably, only 1 or 2 adults will gamble in a family of 4 . Some guests are only in-town for a convention or to vacation at the pool. Not everyone sees a show, but everybody has to eat. If the average stay is 3 days, that is 9 meals going towards the $250. The dining avg might also include drinks.
Written by ColinFromLasVegas on March 24, 2010 at 12:03 am
Those statistics don’t surprise me. The rest of the country is hurting, that means us folk here in Las Vegas hurt even worse. You build it, they will come….but not…um….at the present time.
So, us local folks just gotta scrimp and scratch and save some more. Til times get better.
Question for you, Rex….. What is the best cat food to buy? Purina, IAMs or Friskies? Reason I ask is because I heard Friskies had the best taste and was more edible with hot sauce. Just was wondering what you think…….
Written by Scott on March 24, 2010 at 2:08 am
I don’t find this odd, since we are talking averages. Both my parents and my grandparents (before passing away) would go to Vegas and it’d be a push to say they would spend $40 on gambling – on a nickle slot. If they were getting frisky they would blow $20 at the Roulette table in 5 minutes. And these were both relatively wealthy people.
They would gasp when watching me play $10 or $15 B/J or having $40 out on a craps table.
Add in the fact that you can gamble in casinos almost anywhere in the country now. Here in Indiana we have 10 boats, including a 150,000 sq ft gaming area barge that’s the size of a mega resort Vegas casino. Full scale casinos in Colorado, WV, Missouri, Mississippi, coming to Pennsylvania and every major city in Ohio. Tribal casinos all over the place. You don’t need to go to Vegas (or AC) to get the your gambling fix.
Written by tully on March 24, 2010 at 3:00 am
Question—would the restaurant amount be a combination of food and beverage? And if so, would club revenue be included, along with purchased drinks in casino bars?
Keep in mind, people who aren’t gambling as much are buying more of their liquor.
Written by briguyx on March 24, 2010 at 8:48 am
Sure, there’s a lot of people who come to Vegas for the pools, the clubs and just walking around and don’t gamble at all except maybe for sticking a dollar in a slot machine here and there or spending $ 20 at blackjack. And I would explain the high food budget on the fact that you’re on vacation and you wouldn’t want to eat at McDonald’s at the food court. But you’re stuck because even the buffets are charging over
$ 20 for dinner and the regular restaurants are even higher. Just take a walk through the MGM Grand sometime and look at how much it costs to eat at those restaurants in the promenade…
Written by monkeyshed on March 25, 2010 at 12:12 am
I’m with you 100%. When I’m in Vegas, my meals consist of the Ellis Island Barbeque, pizza, and the occasional olive in my drinks. I don’t spend big dollars for food at home or in Vegas. In addition, I don’t spend $350 on bottle service or $30-50 cover charge for a club. Finally, I ‘ve never been shopping in Vegas, except for the time that my wife’s shoes melted completely to the sidewalk in front of the mall and she walked (ran) in barefoot.
We like to gamble. Our bankroll is $2000 for the two of us for 3 days. It gets me anywhere from $5 to $25 bets, as I choose. Most often I bring home $1000 or more. Twice I’ve lost it all. Twice I’ve come home with $3000 or more. It works for me. I often wonder whether or not I’m bringing next to nothing compared to the others, or more. Hey, I’m just a teacher. The pay’s not bad, but there’s not a lot of extra coin, if you know what I mean.
Written by StevenOfBaltimore on March 25, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Is the Ellis Island pizza that good?
Written by FleaStiff on April 1, 2010 at 11:48 am
>From what I am reading, most Vegas tourists belong Downtown.
What you are reading is probably not quite accurate but even if a tourist “belongs” Downtown that doesn’t mean he wants to be told he belongs Downtown or that he wants to admit to himself that he belongs Downtown.
Vegas “Visitor” or “Tourist” is simply too loosely defined. Some gamble, some gawk, some shop for merchandise, some shop for recreational sex. If Downtown Gambling is their proper destination, why do they go to the Strip’s MegaResort? Well, they want to pretend that they belong at a Strip MegaResort and somehow want to do it on a Downtown budget. They are in an adult Disneyland of dream fulfillment.
Its sort of like a Dead Man pricing a hooker. His wife has given him some money and let him off the leash for awhile, so he gambles at 6:5 Blackjack and prices hookers he can’t afford to rent. That is what he came to Vegas for. He doesn’t want to price Downtown hookers, he wants to price Strip hookers.
I don’t think the casinos really have many customers these days who go there to gamble. They go there for “The Vegas Experience”.