LVCVA: Las Vegas Sees More Sports Bets and a Change in Visitor Demographics

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) has released its 2025 Visitor Profile report, revealing several notable insights about the city, showing that spending on sporting events nearly doubled, while visitors also increased their spending on attractions.

Sports Have Had a Significant Role in Increased Las Vegas Visitors

As Las Vegas continues to host major sporting events and attract professional franchises, an increasing number of visitors are attending games during their stays. In 2025, 13% of visitors watched a sporting event, up from 10% the previous year. These visitors represent particularly high-value customers. They tend to spend more across nearly every category, stay longer, travel in larger groups, and are more likely to return.

Efforts to bring various sports events to Las Vegas appear to be paying off. The NFL and NHL franchises coming to the city have played a huge part in this. Furthermore, last year’s Las Vegas F1 Grand Prix also brought in many visitors, despite there being some conflicts between F1 and local businesses.

Additionally, more visitors are engaging in gambling during their trips, with 81% doing so in 2025, up from 76% in 2021. The average gaming budget reached nearly $858. However, visitors are gambling at fewer venues overall. In 2025, guests played at an average of 1.7 casinos, compared with 2.2 in 2022. This suggests they are increasingly staying within integrated resort ecosystems rather than venturing far beyond them.

Who Is Visiting the City?

According to the data, the average age of visitors has dropped to 41.2, while 44% of visitors now earn at least $150,000 annually. Meanwhile, 38% of visitors are unmarried. Gen Z accounts for 7% of visitors and is less likely to gamble, with about 70% participating compared with 82% of Millennials. Instead, they spend more time at nightclubs, concerts, and immersive experiences.

Influencers are also playing a growing role in travel decisions. Around 12% of visitors consulted influencers when planning their trips. This group tends to spend significantly more. For instance, their average shopping spend was $510 compared with $182 for other visitors.

However, not all is rosy, as the LVCVA’s data also shows what guests to the city have been complaining about. Cost remains the top complaint among visitors. The cost-of-living crisis was reflected in per-trip spending, with expenditures on food, drinks, and shopping all declining in 2025. This hasn’t been helped by recent scandals of the eye-watering prices some casinos put on even the simplest of items and services. Such was the case a couple of weeks ago when visitors were outraged that MGM Grand charged $13 for a simple candy bar. 

Nevertheless, the data shows that 87% of visitors said they were “very satisfied” with their trips, a significant increase from 54% in 2024. This, however, could be attributed to the loyalty of the customers, as the share of first-time visitors fell from 20% in 2021 to just 10% last year. This highlights the strong loyalty many travelers have to the destination, while also pointing to challenges in attracting new visitors.