While Las Vegas traffic is certainly returning, the 3,521,210-passenger count in May 2021 is still down almost 25% from May 2019, when 4,584,506 went through McCarran. The Mesquite market is not as dependent on “lift”, or air traffic, as is Las Vegas. People picked off-peak times to come in when they perceived there were fewer people.” While alcohol sales were down, coffee sales perked up. During the shutdown, Eureka set up a drive through food pantry for the town, bought testing kits and ultimately ran a vaccination center for the city of Mesquite.Īt the casino, Carrier adds, “We never did more business between 5AM and 10AM. When they re-opened in June, he says Eureka followed ‘best practices,’ with four seats per gaming table and plexiglass separating employees and customers.
Still, “We all went to zero together,” says Carrier, as all of Nevada’s casinos were shut down in March 2020.
“The drive markets did better, and we’re still doing better, as we don’t have the reliance on convention traffic.” Carrier says the Eureka was not hit as hard as Las Vegas during the pandemic.
