Nevada casino gaming revenue staged a minor comeback in July, although capacity restrictions kept a lid on operators’ ability to rebound from their long COVID closure.

Figures released Wednesday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board show the state’s gaming licensees generated revenue of $756.8m in July, a 26.2% decline from July 2019 but significantly better than June 2020’s $566.8m.  

Nevada casinos were ordered to close in mid-March as the pandemic took hold and didn’t reopen until June 4 and even then only at 50% of capacity. Since then, the state’s casinos have been linked to pandemic outbreaks in other states and Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak has so far resisted calls to shut the casinos for a second time but is under mounting pressure to publicly name and shame operators who are failing to observe required health and safety protocols.

Nevada’s casino recovery continues to lean heavily on local residents, as July’s revenue decline was far more pronounced on the Las Vegas Strip (-39.2%, $330.1m) than Downtown Las Vegas (-20.6%, $41.7m), Reno (-10.2%, $51.5m) and the Boulder Strip (-19.9%, $65.5m).