December was a big month for major tournament poker in Las Vegas. But year-over-year turnout in the city's three key events was significantly down.
There are some potential contributing factors in play, one being the highly-publicized tourism decline in Las Vegas. The popular tourist destination had its roughest year since COVID in 2020. Many have attributed the nearly 10% drop in travelers to Southern Nevada to the economy, a decrease in international visitors to the U.S., and the penny-pinching casinos charging customers for just about everything other than oxygen these days (wait a year or two and they'll start charging for that).