Nevada’s tourism economy is putting the coronavirus pandemic behind it, with regulators reporting the best casino winnings ever for a February and the airport serving Las Vegas announcing plans to resume nonstop international flights, including Canada, in April.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported a 12th straight month of US$1 billion or more in casino house winnings, a key index of state economic health. The state reaped almost $59 million in casino taxes based on the figure, up more than 34% from a year ago.

“This month’s results were supported by an incredibly active entertainment and sports calendar,” said Michael Lawton, board senior analyst. He noted that Las Vegas hosted the NHL All-Star Game, the NFL Pro Bowl, and a return of “a traditional Super Bowl party atmosphere” with COVID-19 restrictions including mask requirements lifted on March 10.

The $1.1 billion that 433 casinos statewide won in February was below the record $1.36 billion set last July.

The number of visitors to Las Vegas increased dramatically compared with a year ago, up to 2.6 million from 1.54 million in February 2021, according to a Las Vegas and Convention and Visitors Authority report posted last week. That was still down more than 21% compared with pre-coronavirus month of February 2020.

Harry Reid International Airport reported monthly passenger traffic more than doubled in February from a year ago, with 3.3 million arriving and departing passengers. That was down just 13.5% from the 3.8 million passengers tallied in February 2020 – the last month before casinos and businesses were closed for more than two months to stem the spread of COVID-19.

The airport – formerly called McCarran International – announced that 16 airlines will begin nonstop service in coming weeks to cities in Mexico, Canada, Panama, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Flights from overseas all but stopped during the coronavirus pandemic, and the Las Vegas airport tallied just 8,000 international passengers in February 2021 after handling almost 268,000 in the same month a year earlier.

“International travellers are a key component to the full recovery of Las Vegas’ overall visitation,” said H. Fletch Brunelle, marketing VP of the convention authority.

Lawton, who has analyzed casino winnings for 12 years, noted robust casino activity on the Las Vegas Strip even without travellers from Asia able to fly in to celebrate the Lunar New Year. He attributed that to “the underlying strength we are seeing from locals, domestic customers and leisure travellers.”

Sports pools won almost $31 million and the number of sports bets made in February set a record, but a streak of four straight months of sports books logging more than $1 billion in bets ended with $781 million wagered.

Almost two-thirds of sports wagers in February were made by mobile app, Lawton said.