Resort fees are up 194% and Nevada’s live poker table count is down 38% since 2011, based on UNLV and Gaming Commission data cited in the report.
The cost of a one-night visit to the Las Vegas Strip has more than doubled since 2014, according to a new “Las Vegas Inflation Index” published by Ignition Casino. The report estimates a typical one-night “basket” of expenses at $667.85 in 2026 versus $319.09 in 2014, a 109.3% increase.
Ignition Casino’s basket includes the Strip average for a blackjack minimum bet, weekend one-night hotel stay, resort fee, domestic beer, bottle of water, dinner (entrée and drink), a show ticket and valet parking. In the company’s breakdown, resort fees show the steepest jump, rising from $19.43 to $48.49 (+194.5%). Other increases cited include blackjack minimum bets from $50.00 to $112.17 (+124.3%), show tickets from $82.86 to $175.91 (+112.3%), water from $3.00 to $7.00 (+133.3%), and valet parking moving from free to $40.
For poker, the report argues higher trip costs are landing alongside a smaller live product. Citing UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research and Nevada Gaming Commission Quarterly Reports, it says Nevada’s live poker table count fell from 957 in 2011 to 595 by end-2025, a 38% decline. On the Strip, the report puts active poker rooms at eight today—Aria, Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Horseshoe, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, The Venetian and Wynn—down from approximately 17 in the late 2000s.
The company also points to higher rake caps compared with 2014. It states Aria’s rake is “10% of the pot up to a maximum cap of $7 per hand,” Bellagio’s cap is $6, and the remaining Strip rooms are at $5, versus a 2014 Strip average cap of $4. Using an assumed 30 raked hands per hour, the report estimates that a $2 higher cap at cap-reaching tables equates to “an extra $60 per hour” going to the house, or $300 over a five-hour session.
At blackjack, Ignition Casino ties higher table minimums to shorter expected playtime for fixed budgets. It estimates a $500 bankroll would last about 2 hours and 22 minutes at the 2014 average minimum bet, versus about 28 minutes at the 2026 average minimum, using an approach it attributes to “casino risk analysts and quantitative mathematicians” and assuming 70 hands per hour and a blackjack standard deviation of 1.15.
