There are roughly 20,000 hotel and motel rooms in Reno and Sparks, basically equal to the total housed by the resorts surrounding the intersection of the Strip and Flamingo Road. However, the Northern Nevada markets are having a much better start to 2026 than their southern counterparts.

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Northern Nevada's gaming and tourism markets have flourished since last fall, especially as area casinos kept their prices down for consumers and a mild winter allowed the main route from Northern California to remain open.

"I think a lot is coming together at the right time," said Reno Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority CEO Mike Larragueta. He added that rising consumer costs haven't floated into Northern Nevada casinos, which have held firm on their costs.

"It really hasn't gotten to the point where the customer feels like we're overpricing the market," he said. "That's worked to our advantage."

While the Strip has struggled much of the past 13 months, gaming revenue has increased more than 5 percent in January and February in Reno. The Sparks gaming market is up more than 9 percent.

Granted, Washoe County's $1.1 billion in 2025 gaming revenue is just a few coins in the slot machine hopper compared with the $13.7 billion produced by Clark County casinos — 87 percent of the state's overall total. 

But it was a more than 3 percent increase from a year earlier, and Washoe overall is up 5.6 percent in the first two months of 2026. The results are a sense of pride for Northern Nevada gaming and tourism leaders.

Stephen Ascuaga, corporate director of business development for Peppermill Hotel & Casino, said the mild winter helped keep Interstate 80 — the main connection between the Reno gaming market and Northern California customers — open with few disruptions.

Ascuaga, who has been part of the Northern Nevada gaming community much of his life, said world events don't play into Reno as they would in Las Vegas.

"We're obviously a more regional market. We don't face the headwinds of international travel and that kind of thing," Ascuaga said, alluding to the 15 percent decline over the past two months in international air travelers at Harry Reid International Airport.

"We've become more diversified over time, and I think that's starting to finally show up in our performance. It's been very positive," Ascuaga said.

Strip gaming revenue was up less than 1 percent in February, following an 11 percent decline in January. The Las Vegas results were viewed somewhat positively, given that visitation was up for the first time in 13 months.  

Northern Nevada's gaming results, however, have raised eyebrows nationally.

"We think the gaming revenue growth this year reflects strong population growth dynamics for the market as well as sizable capital investments," Truist Securities gaming analyst Barry Jonas said in an interview, discussing resort renovations by Atlantis Casino & Resort owner Monarch Resorts and Caesars Entertainment, which operates the Eldorado, Silver Legacy and Circus Circus.

Every facet of Northern Nevada is playing its part. 

The Reno-Tahoe International Airport had its busiest year since 2008, serving 4.9 million passengers in 2025. Passenger volume is up almost 2 percent through February, and the airport is two years into a 10-year, $1 billion expansion project.

"The airport picked up a few new routes, so that's been a benefit," Larragueta said.

Through February, South Lake Tahoe gaming revenue is up 6.4 percent over the same two months of 2025. The market saw a 1.5 percent gaming revenue increase in all of last year compared with 2024. South Tahoe is benefiting from the renovation of two properties — Harvey's being replaced with Caesars Republic and Hard Rock Lake Tahoe's transition into the Golden Nugget.

In Sparks, the investment by Colorado-based Century Casinos in the Nugget Casino Resort is beginning to show an increase in business, three years after the company acquired the nearly 1,400-room property.

Washoe County visitation overall was up 9.5 percent in 2025, according to figures provided by the convention center. 

Larragueta said the Reno Sparks Convention Center is doing its part.

The American Bus Association held its 10-day annual conference in Reno during January, the first time the group came out West in three decades. Not only did the group's attendees utilize 8,000 hotel rooms, but it also piqued the organization's interest in the West. 

"It exposed the entire region to tour operators, and we're anticipating a 20 to 30 percent lift in tours in our area by hosting the conference," Larragueta said. 

Also, the convention center spent $5.2 million to purchase indoor track and field equipment that was set up and used to host 12 meets for collegiate conference championships between December and February in one of the large meeting halls. The equipment was stored away for next season.

"Two tournaments alone consisted of 26 collegiate teams here over one weekend," Larragueta said. "We'll do about 25,000 room nights this year just through indoor track."

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Cadence Crossing opens in Henderson, replacing aging Joker's Wild casino

Henderson is no longer the dusty little town it was when Boyd Gaming planted its roots there more than 60 years ago. The population growth and gaming expansion are reasons Boyd decided to replace its aging Joker's Wild Casino with Cadence Crossing.

Joker's Wild, which is adjacent to Cadence, was closed and is in the process of being demolished.

The 10,000-square-foot casino opened last week with 450 slot machines, two dining options, a center bar and a lounge. The property does not have a hotel. 

Cadence sits on 13 acres near the Boulder Highway, 6 miles south of Boyd's Sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall. The property is ripe for future expansion, given that as many as 10,000 single-family homes are under development near the casino. 

"That would be the plan," said Boyd Gaming Executive Chairwoman Marianne Boyd Johnson, the granddaughter of Sam Boyd and daughter of Bill Boyd, the company's founders. "We'll see how things go. We can add to Cadence later."

The Henderson/Boulder market fell just short of $1 billion in gaming revenue in 2025.

Cadence General Manager Michael Williams, who oversaw Joker's Wild, said employees and longtime customers were nervous about the change until they saw renderings and casino plans.

"Once we broke ground and started building, they really got into it," Williams said, adding that Joker's Wild employees were given jobs at Cadence and brought over during the construction process to help familiarize them with the building.

"There has been a lot of interest from customers because they could see it going up next door," Williams said.

The new restaurant, Tin Lizard Bar & Grill, is a brand used in other Boyd Gaming properties. The company has 28 casinos in 11 states and operates a tribal casino in Northern California.

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What I'm reading

🍁 Canada sees 'growing interest' in prediction markets, but no elections or sports allowed — Geoff Zochodne, Covers

Canada is allowing limited prediction markets through approved firms, focusing only on economic, environmental and financial indicators.

💸 Downtown Las Vegas casino owners default on $90M loan, property in receivership — David Danzis, Las Vegas Review-Journal

The Gaming Control Board said it "is aware of the situation at Downtown Grand, and we are monitoring it closely."

✈️ JetBlue eyes merger with United, Alaska, or Southwest — Matthew Klint, Live and Let's Fly

JetBlue operates approximately 100 weekly nonstop flights to five destinations from Harry Reid International Airport.

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News, notes and quotes

🙏 Krolicki recalls Sue Wagner as a 'champion'

Nevada Gaming Commission member Brian Krolicki was intertwined in many ways with Sue Wagner, who died March 17 at age 86. They were passengers on the small airplane that crashed outside of Fallon in 1990. Both served as Nevada's lieutenant governor and on the gaming commission. "The accident and the injury she suffered really impaired her public service for the rest of her days, and I really believe she would have been governor," Krolicki said at the outset of last week's commission meeting. Wagner served 12 years on the commission. "We talk about the empowerment of women and leadership, and the fierceness of policy and faith and doing what's right and what's ethical. She was that champion."

🤑 Resorts World Las Vegas scraps its cashless gaming system

During this licensing hearing last week, Resorts World Las Vegas President Carlos Castro told the Nevada Gaming Commission the property's cashless gaming system was being mothballed for lack of use. When it opened in June 2021, the $4.3 billion Resorts World became the first casino in Nevada to allow gamblers to purchase chips at a gaming table via a digital wallet, as part of a multitiered technology launch. He said the system would be phased out and reevaluated at a later date. Castro was named president last spring after joining Resorts World in February 2025.