Boyd’s downtown casino financial drops – even as its regionals and locals grow – come as larger trends show dwindling Las Vegas visitation.
Photo By – SIPA.
Boyd Gaming’s second-quarter Downtown Las Vegas casino revenues dropped more than 4% year-over-year, another potential indicator of dwindling casino visitation in Southern Nevada.
- Downtown Vegas revenue dips for Boyd: Boyd Gaming’s Downtown Las Vegas casinos saw a 4% year-over-year revenue drop in Q2 2025, driven in part by fewer Hawaiian visitors.
- Tourism downturn affects broader market: Las Vegas is experiencing declining visitation in 2025 due to economic and political factors, reduced international travel, and visitor frustration with rising fees.
- Boyd sells FanDuel stake, focuses on debt and growth: Boyd sold its 5% FanDuel stake for $1.755B, plans to use proceeds for debt repayment.
Boyd’s three downtown casinos generated roughly $55.2 million in revenue in the second quarter of 2025 against $57.7 million in the second quarter of 2024, the company announced in its earnings release Thursday. This led to $19.4 million in adjusted EBITDAR during Q2 2025 compared to just over $22 million during that same time in 2024, a nearly 12% decline.
CEO Keith Smith attributed the drop partially to “unusually elevated” visitations from Hawaiian guests in Q2 2024 who delayed visiting Las Vegas in Q1 due to elevated hotel room rates caused by that quarter’s Super Bowl. Boyd runs charter flights to and from Hawaii and sees a significant portion of its customers from the islands.
Potential macro visitation trends
The downtown declines came as the company saw significant revenue growth at its Nevada locals casinos outside downtown and the Las Vegas Strip, as well as year-over-year gains at its regional gaming properties across the country.
Las Vegas tourism figures show year-over-year visitor volume has declined in the first five months of 2025. That includes a 6.5% percent year-over-year decrease in May, the most recent month reported by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Room inventory, hotel occupancy and room nights occupied have also all declined year-over-year. The number of passengers flying into Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport dropped nearly 4% year-over-year.
The declines have been attributed to the economy, politics, and a host of other factors. International visitation has declined more significantly, particularly from Canada, in the wake of the start of the second Trump Administration.
Twenty years ago, you couldn’t walk the Vegas Strip without bumping into people—shoulder to shoulder crowds, all day and night. Now? It’s a ghost of what it used to be. People stopped going because Vegas got greedy. Shows are overpriced, parking isn’t free anymore, and the slots… https://t.co/xoLR7qcud3
— Dwann B 🇺🇸 (@dwannb) July 21, 2025
Frustrated visitors have also increasingly expressed their anger on social media toward what they consider unfair Vegas pricing, particularly along the Strip. Multiple Strip operators have touted reduced or eliminated parking or resort fees this summer after free casino parking (long a Vegas staple) has become all but non-existent along the Strip and most major operators have significantly increased their daily fees.
Slowdowns were expected after a massive spike in 2021 and 2022 following the repeal of COVID-19 restrictions. But the visitation declines have now continued for every month in 2025 with no sign of a pending reversal.
Boyd devolves FanDuel stake
The revenue announcement Thursday comes shortly after the company sold its 5% ownership stake in FanDuel, the U.S. market share leader in online sports betting and casino gaming. FanDuel parent Flutter Entertainment acquired the 5% stake for $1.755 billion.
A comparatively minor player in the iGaming and online sports betting space, Boyd generated much of its online revenue from state market access deals with FanDuel that will be amended after the sale. FanDuel, like other major sportsbooks, has arrangements with land-based casino owners in states outside Nevada for digital sports betting license access, for which the book operator repays the brick-and-mortar company a fee and/or revenue split.
In 2018, Boyd Gaming made a $10 million investment in FanDuel that included sports betting & iGaming market access deals along with a 5% ownership stake.
Boyd sold that stake for $1.76 billion less than seven years later.
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) July 24, 2025
The company expects to generate between $50 and $55 million in online gaming AEBITDAR in full year 2025 and roughly $30 million in 2026. CEO Keith Smith said the company still looks to have a strong digital future and will potentially launch in new markets.
“The recently announced transaction to sell our equity stake in FanDuel will further strengthen the company’s financial position as we continue to invest in our properties, pursue growth opportunities, return capital to shareholders and maintain a strong balance sheet – a strategy that continues to drive long-term shareholder value,” Smith said.
Boyd operates an eponymous digital sportsbook in Nevada and online casino platforms under its Stardust brand in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Smith said during the Q2 earnings call it will use the FanDuel stake proceeds to pay off debts. Boyd is spending hundreds of millions renovating several of its properties outside Nevada and is financing a new casino property in Virginia.
The company is also planning to continue its share buy back program and announced a shareholder dividend earlier this year.
