LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Las Vegas, a city famous for its neon lights, packed casinos, and high-stakes thrills, faces a quieter reality.
A recent slowdown in tourism is hitting the Strip hard, and it’s the casino dealers who are feeling the brunt of it.
Extended Las Vegas tourism slump shows April visits down 5.1%
Several major resorts and hotels have quietly started laying off workers, many of them table game dealers, as foot traffic on casino floors declines.
Experts said a mix of rising travel costs, fewer international visitors, and economic uncertainty is behind the dip in visitor numbers.
“Fontainebleau announced some layoffs, as well as Resorts World. We want those casinos to be successful, active, and robust because that gives our break-in dealers an opportunity to transition, that’s the goal,” CEG Dealer School Managing Director David Knoll said.
According to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation, the Las Vegas metro area ended 2024 with an unemployment rate of 5.9%, the highest of any large metro area in the country.
The leisure and hospitality sector, which includes casino dealers, shed thousands of jobs over the past year.
Industry insiders say some properties are moving toward more automated systems, such as electronic table games, which require fewer staff. Others are simply tightening budgets amid weaker earnings reports.
“We’ve seen our enrollment drop, and people interested in becoming a dealer. We used to have a lot more people transition from out of state and come to Las Vegas for the opportunities here,” Knoll said.
Hotel occupancy rates have also declined, with a drop of one percent overall in April, and a larger decrease for hotels downtown of 2.6 percent.
In 2024, the average hourly wage for casino dealers in Nevada was $19.96, closely aligning with the national average of $19.25.
Despite Nevada’s prominence in the casino industry, it did not rank among the top five highest-paying states for this occupation.
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